The Piano Oak Table

The story of our supper table started about 1983 when my first husband and I bought our first house. We needed a dining table and heard about a furniture auction in Battle Ground where we lived. We attended the auction and there was a reproduction claw foot oak table with 6 chairs that we fell in love with. The top was beautifully inlaid, and the table was made from “piano oak” according to the auctioneer. We were not sure what he meant by “piano oak”, but it sounded good to us! We got the winning bid and brought our new table home. We ate many family dinners around that table and a few holiday meals as well. Later when we had a new house built, we brought the table with us.

After 18 years of marriage and our divorce, I brought the old table with me. It was a smaller house, and the dining area was small, but it worked out well. The kids were teenagers by then. Again, we had many family and holiday meals around that table. After three years, I remarried a wonderful man. One summer, we had an unusual meal when our step-grandsons came to visit. They went “fishing” for bullfrogs in our pond and we ate fried frog legs for dinner! On a different day, I found a garter snake that had come in through the French door. It was curled up and sleeping under the table! I carried it outside and let it go. It really wasn’t big enough to cook! Ha!

After 17 years, my husband and I bought another house, and the old oak table came with us. Now, six years later, we are blessed with grandchildren and their parents who come to visit, and we all sit around the old oak table and share a family meal. We also had holiday dinners around the old oak table with family and extended family. For Christmas 2023, sixteen were in attendance, and we set up two extra tables. The old oak table looked elegant set with my grandmother’s 1944 gold-rimmed china.

So far, that old table has survived two marriages, and four house moves. It has some scratches and a gouge on the top. Most of the chairs have had the rungs reglued. One chair still has scratches on the seat from the booster chair where our now 20-year-old grandson used to sit.

I considered having it refinished. But then, all the character and marks of love it gained over the years would be lost. It’s fine just the way it is!

Sherry writes about herself, “I describe myself as rich in faith, family, and friends as I walk day by day with Jesus. A wife and mother of two of my own, two stepchildren, five grandchildren, and five step-grandchildren. My four youngest grandchildren, ages two-seven, are a source of joy in my life. I love spending time with them, and they keep me on my toes! My husband Russ and I are both retired and live on 2 1/3 acres northeast of Battle Ground Lake in Washington where we have one cat and fifteen chickens. We like gardening and genealogy. After doing our DNA tests, we learned that we are 7th cousins! I am a descendant of an early pioneer and State President of the Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington. It’s a fun and rewarding experience.”

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