Have you ever found a piece of furniture that you can honestly say brings you joy? Like you look at it and you're glad you have it. When you use it, you're genuinely happy at how well it fits.
The house I bought is right next door to my grandfather's house. He doesn't live there (dude owns two houses, he lives in the one by a river, not the one by my four screaming children. I can't blame him), but it contains artifacts from a life well lived. One such was his sisters table.
I knew of that table. I first saw it when I visited my great aunts house decades ago. It's a coffee table, cut from a single piece of wood and left with its original shape. Engraved in the surface is a checkerboard on one side, and cribbage holes on the other. It's a unique piece that caught my eye even when I was a kid.
When she passed on, the table found its way into my grandfathers home. It collected dust, and occasionally served to hold random odds and ends in his detached garage.Once my basement was finished, (and a good opportunity arose) I wasn't shy about telling him that this beautiful thing was going to waste sitting there.
He let me take it.
The finished half of my basement is divided into two rooms. One is distinctly an office, the other I made into a lounge. I found myself a very large couch (the kind you can effectively *hide* in, as I've proved to my dear wife already), and while I'm quite pleased with myself on finding that big soft blue thing, that table has history.
It's strange how I'm drawn to things like that. Like my house. I could have bought any house, but I bought the one my mother grew up next to. The two families knew each other since the 60's (the house stayed in their family from when it was built until I bought it), and selling it was apparently a hard thing. But since I was no stranger, it was a lot easier emotionally.
But I digress. I know the history of this house. I have relatives that had sleepovers here when they were kids. I keep hearing stories about the place, and I relish it. The table has the same appeal.
I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever be able to take myself away from it.
