The search is over for now

For the past 4-5 years, DH and I have been on a mission to buy a new kitchen table. We've read the Sunday ads, we've gone to furniture stores. We went through the trouble of collecting multiple coupons for Ikea, drove all the way out BFE (aka Frisco) with the sole purpose of buying a table, only to talk ourselves out of it once we got there.

A few weeks ago we had a slow day. DH decided it was time to take advantage of the Presidents' Day furniture sales because we all should celebrate the fathers of our nation by buying a table. We went to all the standard stores and found nothing. B, who had been dragged through all of this, was starting to get cranky, I was hungry and pretty much grunted my assent when DH suggested going to one more place.

It was an Amish Furniture showroom, hand-built by the Amish (they say.) I walked in and the sales lady started talking. I walked right past her to a table.

For months and years I've been saying that we just need to find someone to make a table for us. Our problem is that most tables are 72" or longer. We needed a table to sit 6 people that was 66-68" long. Very difficult to find, nothing was what I wanted in the size I needed.

I finally found the perfect table. A quarter-sawn oak butcher block top with 3" tapered legs (not to big but not spindly either) in a dark stain with chairs that weren't too tall and comfortable to sit in. It was ridiculously expensive. Okay, probably not that bad in terms of well made furniture, but $4000.00 is beyond our budget at this point in life. I was ready to spend it. They would make the exact table I wanted, it would be perfect.

DH was scared. He put me off for a day or two. Then he saw a news story about Barack Obama going to a a coffee shop in Oak Cliff. (No, he didn't go, it was a fund raiser/rally thing that got misconstrued and it ended up a feature story on the news. That's typical for a Dallas news station.) DH probably doesn't remember what the story was about, but he liked the table that they showed in the coffee shop. He emailed the shop asking about the furniture.

The reply came and the table was from Target. DH started talking sensibly about our budget and upcoming school tuition and all the other things we have need in order to live, you know, essentials like food/electricity/water. For a day or two I stamped my feet like a 3 year old insisting I wanted my table, but I eventually came around. A few days later this arrived at our house. He found the matching benches at a local store and now we have a new kitchen table.

Someday when we win the lottery or get all three kids out of the house, I'm going to buy my amish butcher block table. Just like someday I'll own a duxiana bed and will vacation in Maine. It is nice to have dreams.