Grandmas table

 I miss sitting at my grandma's red and white checked table. It was where I'd listen to her stories about growing up in a time without all the luxuries of today. She attended school for five years before quitting to help her mother, who had six children, with her being the oldest. I'd trace the squares with my finger as she went on to tell me how happy they were as a family and how their faith got them through hard times. She talked and I listened to her as her memories spilled out, each as precious to her as the last.

I can close my eyes and smell the small kitchen where a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of cold milk sat on the table, and her telling me not to eat them all. It took me a while to learn she had put just enough on the plate, with the rest going into a cookie jar out of my reach.

Sometimes she was quiet as I played with my toy soldiers using the squares on the table to make a battlefield between red and white. I'm not quite sure when that table became just a table, but it meant a lot to me back then and remains a reminder to me of my grandma's stories and how she seemed so wise.

I came across a table at a yard sale that was exactly like the one I remembered, and I instantly bought it. I discarded my table and replaced it with the red and white checked table that my grandkids now sit at, playing with their toy soldiers and listening to my stories of growing up. My life came full circle as I put a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the table, telling them to save some for later, but little did they know I'd put some in the cookie jar my grandma gave to me many years ago.

Mike 2025