The Life of a Table

ByDeborah Raney
40 Comments

Once upon a time, about thirty years ago, a young couple on a very (VERY!) tight budget received several hundred dollars for hail damage on a very (VERY!) old car that probably wasn’t worth several hundred dollars. So the husband said to the wife, “You’ve been wanting a new dining table and chairs. This is our chance to buy them.” So they did!

The wife (that’s me, in case you haven’t figured this out yet 😉 ) was thrilled to bring home the farmhouse table she’d been dreaming of. And for a few happy years, that table hosted a family of six for meals and birthday parties and crafts and board games and (the much-hated) weekly family council meetings. The table was off to a good start in life!

Then the wife started writing novels and needed a desk for her computer, so the table got a new assignment and moved into a corner of the living room in the family’s little rented duplex and became the perfect writing desk. A dozen books later, and with three of the four kids off to college (one of them married with a baby on the way!) the family bought their very first house and the wife got her very own room for an office. The farmhouse table went happily into that office to be the wife’s desk again.

Eight years and eight novels later, with all the kids grown up and living far away, the couple moved to a bigger city with an airport so they could fly to visit the kids and the other grandbabies that came along. Again, the farmhouse table went with them to be the wife’s desk.

Seven and a half years and a dozen more novels later, with a whole bunch of kids and grandkids settled in Missouri, the couple packed up and moved again. By now that farmhouse table wore scratches and dents and scars. It had a long crack at the back and a few pretty stickers covered up some unfortunate burn marks, but it was still a nice little table and it still had years of service left in it.

This time the table went to live on the family’s screened porch. It didn’t mind a little dust and it didn’t even mind when sometimes the rain blew in and gave it a shower.

But after almost a year on that porch, the table needed to belong to someone again. And just the right someone showed up! That very first grandbaby, now a strapping teenage boy, had a new room in his new house and he needed a desk to do homework and to read and to draw amazing pictures.

I couldn’t be happier that thirty years later, my desk-table belongs to our grandson. I’m sure it will gain new scars and cracks, it might get painted a wild color or get some more stickers just for fun. And that’s just the way it should be.

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DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a four-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

40 Comments

  2. Nice table! Matches everywhere it is put. You and your family seem to be good at decorating the place.

  3. What fun, Deb, to see the varied (and inspiring) life of this table. But just when did that grandson of yours grow up into that handsome young man?! Gracious, I remember when he was born. Time is moving entirely too fast these days. But God holds all of those days in his hands. And aren’t we grateful…

  4. I live that this table has gone through so many phases of your life not too mention places. Now the next phase is with your grandson. ❤️

  7. Fantastic story. Love all those places and pictures. Such a legacy. I’m sure the story will be told again and again!

  8. Oh, the stories this table could tell. I enjoyed reading of it’s journey thus far and glad it is gaining new life for your grandson. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    1. I was SO tickled when I found out he was interested in having it in his room. We were just going to put it in a garage sale! This is a MUCH happier ending for the table! 🙂

  9. It amazes me that it fit all your family in Hesston to begin with! So happy it is staying in the family…cherished❣️

    1. Not for very long! Especially once the kids started bringing friends home for dinner! Then the big round oak table Ken grew up with became our dinner table. We could fit a LOT around it.

  10. I love that the table has been so loved and put to so many good uses over the years. You are extremely resourceful! Your grandson will cherish the table that came from his famous grandmother!

  12. Deb, what a sweet story! That table tells the story of your family. I wonder what it would say if it could talk? How precious. Thanks for sharing.

  13. I love this post! This would make great inspiration for a novel entitled The Writing Table. There might be a thirty year old note tucked in one of the corners. Or a tiny clue written in permanent marker…. 😉

  14. Thanks for sharing some good memories with us. We too form attachments to things that have served us well and been a part of our lives for years.

    1. I remember my mom used to cry whenever my parents got a new car because there were so many memories attached to the old one. 🙂 I get that now!

  15. People don’t realize the stories a table could tell. My oldest brother just passed away June 1st. The table we sit at as kids is still there. Don’t know who will get that solid oak table. My huge table went to my daughter’s when my two oldest grandkids needed a big table to do school work. We always ate there so gave daughter our table for smaller table. It has paint from youngest granddaughter there. Scratches a plenty. There is lots of activity around smaller table at Mom is.

  16. Love your story and pictures! Also, Becky’s writing idea. I was going to suggest what Marilyn did – a creative writing story from the table’s point of view.

    Glad your grandson has it. My soon to be 13 year old granddaughter is already picking out pieces of my furniture that she would like!

    1. I never dreamed what a joy it would be to pass things down to my kids. Already they each have furniture or other items that we didn’t need any longer and it’s a delight to see our old things have new life in our kids’ homes.

  17. Oh my goodness! I remember seeing that table in photos for years as I’ve followed you online, Deb. Another reason you’re one of my VERY favorite Authors—not just anyone could write a heart-tugging story about a table! (Yes, I almost had tears…). But how special your grandson is using it now, so it’s still in your family! 🙂

  18. Deborah, you share the best stories! I loved this! And that little table looks as if it might just make it to the next generation – it looks well cared for!

  20. Thanks for sharing this. Our Victorian table was left behind in a house I bought at auction. All the usual scars, drawer missing. In poor families, kitchen drawers became cradles… Four children later, once we had a little spare cash, we thought of paying for a new drawer, decided not to. That missing drawer’s a reminder….

    1. I LOVE furniture with imperfections because it’s served its purpose well! The dining table that replaced the farmhouse table in the story was one Ken grew up with and his parents refinished it for us. It now serves as Ken’s office desk but it has marks and scars from all our kids and we love it all the more because of its flaws!

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