Setting out Fall décor around the house, I snapped photos of some of the arrangements. What is acceptable to the naked eye is not always reflected in pictures! (You've heard the saying, "The camera adds five pounds."?) Well, the camera also picks up things one doesn't always notice. Like today, when I took a picture of a coffee table that showed its wear and tear.
But let me back up. One day some 40 years ago my husband and I were shopping at the brand new Walmart that had opened in our small Mississippi town. What a delight and treat it was to have such a sparkling, wonderful new place to shop! They even had some furniture!
"Look!" I pointed out to Howard, "That coffee table is a butler's tray! I've always wanted one!" It wasn't a big elaborate tray like some I'd seen for coffee tables, but it was affordable and we loved it. It came unassembled, however, but my handy spouse was good at putting things together.
Everything went smoothly until the screws in the brace underneath would not tighten sufficiently, although the table was sturdy enough. The kids used to absently twirl the board with their feet as they sat on the sofa.
As our kids grew up, one by one they would bring home a sweetheart. Their younger siblings started noticing a pattern. When the romances became serious and the couple in love would sit on the sofa to announce their engagement, cheeks flushed and eyes downcast, they unconsciously twirled the brace with their feet.
"Look Mom," one would whisper to me, "They are twirling the board!" We knew then we were about to get a new member of the family!
Well, the butler's tray has acquired many scrapes and scars over all those years, both from feet propped up and coffee spills, I'm afraid. That's what was showing up in the photo. I hadn't used the tray in years, until I needed to fill a spot in rearranging recently. Our kids have all married, and though there may have been some scrapes and scars along the way, we couldn't be prouder of all of them and the wonderful families God has given them. Now it's their turn to watch their kids make those announcements! I wonder if any of them have a butler's tray?
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