this is the place

On Friday, we will be moving to a new home.  We're leaving Forest Park for the big city and we're excited about it too!  But this place is also the first place that Grady and I called 'home' together.  It's the place we came back to when we returned from our honeymoon (almost 2 years ago!).  As we pack our boxes and repaint these walls, I would like to take some time to reflect on what this specific space has meant to me.
 
My theater group in college played a game called "This is the place where I ..."  You would take everyone to a certain spot in our building and tell the group something that happened in that place that was of significance to you.  We could probably wax poetic about the reasons we played this game but to me, it is because space gives us a corporeal memory.  This table that I currently sit at is the same table that stood in my childhood dinning room and served many big meals to family and friends.  My mom found the table either on the curb or at a garage sale, I don't remember which, and my grandfather refinished it and built more leaves for its middle (little did he know or suspect how important they would be with six children coming into the family!).  It is the table on which Grady and I shared our first meal together in our new home.  This physical table presents more than just a place to eat to me; it carries a reminder of my family in it as well.

This is the place where Grady and I have shared many lovely (and many more plain and simple) meals together.

Of course, the table is coming with us when we move but we will be leaving this space behind.

Over the next few days I will be returning to memories of this place we have called 'home' and sharing some of them here.  Now on to more packing ...