As I’m winding down our life in Austin after 15 years; one event has really stood out and got me thinking. It was the sale of our dining room table. I kept thinking: “If that dining room table could talk after 23 years in our possession what would it say”? I could write a short story with the answer. It was a table made of cherry wood and given to us by Bob’s parents who owned it for 45 years. We refurbished it with beautiful long leaf pine. We had many family dinners in Houston and Austin; we ran businesses, read newspapers, held sales meetings, made lots of friends and even lost a friend. I transitioned from my wheel chair to the table and relearned how to eat a family dinner with everyone. We hashed through many issues before and after my stroke at that table. We held dinner parties; sat, ate and drank wine for hours with friends and family. We had heated, interesting, intellectual discussions. Our table was a destination point in our home; it was a “healing center” (I did some of my arm rehab on the flat surface). How could we part with such a treasure? It was time, since the style is incongruent with our new place in Houston. I wanted to transfer the positive “karma” to someone else. When the new owners received our table, I received an immediate phone call stating how happy they were with the purchase – they bought it from a photo. It is all about preparing for the future.
