Letting Go

It's really an ugly piece of furniture, so it shouldn't be hard to get rid of it. It has outlived its usefulness in this family, so it only makes sense to give it away to be sold at the Humane Society rummage sale, right?

That's what my head is saying. My heart is having a hard time parting with something that has served so many different purposes for us over the years.

When it was newly built, it served as an exam table in my father's first doctor's office. With the pad across the top, I can envision the many children in the 60's and 70's who had their ears and throats looked at while they sat on it. 

The clinic was being remodeled and it was going to be disposed of about the time Perry and I got married. Since we had no furniture to speak of, we eagerly accepted it, knowing the cabinets and drawers would provide great storage for us. I think we used it as a make-shift buffet, with our china and silverware stored below.

When Joey came along, we put the thick vinyl cushion back on top and it was used as a super-deluxe changing table. Those drawers held diapers, wet wipes, spit rags, and lots of other baby supplies for many years.

It was clunky and cumbersome, but each time we moved to a new home, this piece had to come along with us. It was just too sturdy and versatile to consider leaving behind. In our current house, it has always been in the basement; its cupboards filled with craft supplies and the top loaded with stacks of things that don't belong anywhere else in the house.

I emptied it out today, as part of my month-long sort-and pitch project in the basement. Looking at it now, my mind wanders back to the days my babies babbled and cooed as they laid on it to get their diapers changed.

I wonder where this piece will end up next. As a tool bench in a workshop? Maybe a storage piece in a garage? The practical side of me and the sentimental side have been doing battle in my mind today. The person who purchases this odd piece might get a good bargain, but they'll never imagine the sentiment behind it.