My Kitchen-Table Anniversary Gift

by Annabel
(San Jose, CA)

The year my husband and I celebrated our fourth anniversary was a very difficult year for me. My Meemaw (grandma) was very sick and needed to move out of her big house into a nursing home.

An anniversary gift was the farthest thing from my mind.

All the kids, grandkids and in-laws, including my husband and me, visited at various times to help clean out closets, take truckloads of donations to the local thrift shops, and pack up the remnants of a well-lived life.

It was very hard for me to see Meemaw’s house getting packed up and all the reminders of many happy vacations visiting her being given away. All the grandkids were given various remembrances of her. Because we lived across the country, I got some very pretty jewelry ... easy to pack.

But, how I always remembered Meemaw was sitting at her banged-up, enamel-top kitchen table, telling stories and welcoming anyone in the neighborhood over for a bite. It was all scarred up from several generations bashing into it, the paint was chipped, and the matching chairs weren’t too comfortable.

But oh, how I wished I could take it home with me! It just wasn’t practical to spend so much on shipping old furniture when we were poor, young married people.

Imagine my surprise when on my anniversary that year, I walked into the kitchen and saw Meemaw’s kitchen table! My sweet husband had asked Meemaw for the table and matching chairs, disassembled it, packed it and shipped it across country, all in secret with the help of some of my cousins.

Now, whenever I see it in my kitchen, it reminds me how lucky I have been to have both a wonderful grandma and a very special husband. It was the best anniversary present I ever got!