Furniture through 4 Generations
At the first of the month I had the privilege of spending a week with my husband, two of our four children, their spouses and all of our 6 grandchildren. We had a somewhat crazy but good time in the Outer Banks. Steve and I came home late Sunday night.
On Tuesday afternoon my brother came to take me with him to my mother's house. It was time for the first garage sale of my mother's things. The contents of the sale included everything from costume jewelry to a butterfly house and antique guns. The driveway was strewn with only part of the accumulation of 72 years of my mother's 95 years of living. Except for those years in a nursing home much of my parents 50 years of marriage were spent side by side. The last of my father's things were easy to spot mixed in with Christmas decorations and discarded kitchen appliances.
Many things in the house will remain in their accustomed places until we each carry our new- to- us possessions to our homes. A good number of these pieces provide a tangible link to the past. I will be taking the bureau that belonged to my grandmother before it became a fixture in my old bedroom. In the dining room a formal dining table and corner cupboard are the most prominent pieces. They were made from walnut wood from trees that grew on my paternal grandfather's farm.
My mother and father's bedroom set is the only set I remember them having. When they bought it they must have used lay away. A piece of the set would arrive as soon as enough payments had been made. When one piece came my mother was in bed. She had had a bad reaction to a polio vaccine which left her bedridden for a while. Her illness did not keep her from directing the men as they brought in the long waited for piece.
Even though my father has been gone a long time, I can't think of that set without thinking about both of them. My father had a snore that could rattle the walls. In spite of that I can not imagine her choosing a king or queen size bed even if they had been available. Most of their married life they slept on one pillow, a bolster that extended from her side to the far edge of his side. That odd pillow seemed to reflect their desire to make things work no matter the snoring or other odd things that so many people let form a wedge between them.
God brought my mother through the bad reaction to the polio vaccine as well as a snoring husband and strong willed children and that furniture held a central position in it all. As we talked about who wanted what I wondered if the bedroom furniture would remain a unit since there are few couples that want a double bed anymore,
I couldn't be happier how things turned out. My sister is taking the bed and the nightstand. My nephew, one of Mother's grandsons took her bureau to hold the clothes of his daughter, my mother's great granddaughter. My son,another grandchild will be taking my dad's bureau to hold the clothes of his daughter. Furniture purchased on a budget at a time of great physical weakness has now and will be benefiting four generations. God often blesses people in layers, this time four generations deep.
On Tuesday afternoon my brother came to take me with him to my mother's house. It was time for the first garage sale of my mother's things. The contents of the sale included everything from costume jewelry to a butterfly house and antique guns. The driveway was strewn with only part of the accumulation of 72 years of my mother's 95 years of living. Except for those years in a nursing home much of my parents 50 years of marriage were spent side by side. The last of my father's things were easy to spot mixed in with Christmas decorations and discarded kitchen appliances.
Many things in the house will remain in their accustomed places until we each carry our new- to- us possessions to our homes. A good number of these pieces provide a tangible link to the past. I will be taking the bureau that belonged to my grandmother before it became a fixture in my old bedroom. In the dining room a formal dining table and corner cupboard are the most prominent pieces. They were made from walnut wood from trees that grew on my paternal grandfather's farm.
My mother and father's bedroom set is the only set I remember them having. When they bought it they must have used lay away. A piece of the set would arrive as soon as enough payments had been made. When one piece came my mother was in bed. She had had a bad reaction to a polio vaccine which left her bedridden for a while. Her illness did not keep her from directing the men as they brought in the long waited for piece.
Even though my father has been gone a long time, I can't think of that set without thinking about both of them. My father had a snore that could rattle the walls. In spite of that I can not imagine her choosing a king or queen size bed even if they had been available. Most of their married life they slept on one pillow, a bolster that extended from her side to the far edge of his side. That odd pillow seemed to reflect their desire to make things work no matter the snoring or other odd things that so many people let form a wedge between them.
God brought my mother through the bad reaction to the polio vaccine as well as a snoring husband and strong willed children and that furniture held a central position in it all. As we talked about who wanted what I wondered if the bedroom furniture would remain a unit since there are few couples that want a double bed anymore,
I couldn't be happier how things turned out. My sister is taking the bed and the nightstand. My nephew, one of Mother's grandsons took her bureau to hold the clothes of his daughter, my mother's great granddaughter. My son,another grandchild will be taking my dad's bureau to hold the clothes of his daughter. Furniture purchased on a budget at a time of great physical weakness has now and will be benefiting four generations. God often blesses people in layers, this time four generations deep.
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