12 December 2008

Ten Years: good for the marriage, murder for the table

Today is our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations, us! Thanks to God for giving Mr de Elba to me to have and to hold these 10 years, what a loving God you are! Please can I keep him?



I post this picture again because Blogger isn't uploading anything for me tonight, and I've had to pinch the HTML code for this from my post on 6th September. Crikey, look out for the crocs just left of camera.

Ten years ago, an old teaching friend of my father's gave this table complete with 6 chairs. It belonged to his father who had recently passed away, so it had supported many dinners already. It was in pretty good shape, and then it came to us.


For the first 7 years, it remained in fairly good condition. The extension insert looked like the rest of the table.

Then Sonny Ma-Jiminy became old enough to eat at our table. I will never understand how a child can create such a mess on a table, and I will never understand how wiping the table won't result in a complete clean. Gack.

At some point, the legs went from wobbly to dangerous, with one leg frequently hanging at a shocking angle to the floor and table, which miraculously remained parallel.

But the real damage was done a few months ago when our kitchen was being renovated. The table spent a few weeks outside on the deck in the elements covered by a flimsy green tarpaulin. Then came the storms. We've had some pretty severe storms in the south-east corner of Queensland recently, and during a heavy hail storm, the tarp blew off the table.

We decided not to brave the hail to go and re-cover the table, otherwise we would have been killed by the hailstones. So we let the table get thoroughly wet, and then dry the next day. By this stage, we'd decided the time had finally come for a new table, so our old one may just have got wet and dry a few more times before being brought inside after the kitchen renovation.

Once it came inside, the veneer started peeling off and the chipboard dislodged in showers onto he floor regularly. And that's how it got to be in such bad shape. The extention insert is now unrecognisably differet from the rest of the poor sad table.

Ten years. The marriage thrived, the table didn't.

17 comments:

stefanie said...

Congratulations! Happy Anniversary! Enjoy your new table, and be sure to keep it (and your marriage) protected from the elements...

Nauntie Lush said...

So long as that well used table is all that is worse for the wear...that is great! CONGRATULATIONS! I think that 1998 was a GREAT year for marriages, don't you?

Adelaine said...

Congrats on 10 years!!! I do agree, 1998 was a great year for marriages :)

I think that you are long overdo for a new table - you deserve it!

Heather said...

Hmm, I'm a bit partial to 1995 marriages, myself....

But in any event, CONGRATULATIONS on surviving those just-off-camera crocs on your wedding day so that you could hit the big decade mark today! ;) We had a winter wedding too (got married the first Saturday in January) though, oh, wait a minute - for you a December wedding was a SUMMER wedding, I'm just now realizing. Duh. Well, let me rephrase: we also got married at Christmastime, at least that's still the same. Of course for us that meant an ice storm and poinsettia centerpieces on the tables at the reception, not bandying about in a sleeveless (and gorgeous btw) gown outdoors in the croc-infested sunshine.

Annnnyhow, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Shelley said...

Congratulations on making double digits. What a beautiful wedding photo. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Jen said...

Happy Anniversary my dear dear friend. I love the picture of you guys. You look so happy as I know that you are. I hope that you get out special tonight.

Alison said...

It's much better for the table to disintegrate than the marriage!

It's a beautiful picture, too. Happy anniversary!

Femina said...

If only one of the two things could survive I'm pleased it was your marriage and not the table! Congratulations. x

Joy said...

Congratulations and Happy Anniversary. I love the new table. I think it will serve you well.
There's something about veneer and water. They just don't mix...
Glad you saved yourselves during the hailstorm and let the table be. Sounds like it had a good life for several families.
My kitchen table has permanent marker stains and spirograph designs imbedded in the wood now. I was thinking about getting a new one, but I'll probably keep this one it's just been loved on by preschoolers and it shows.

Joy

Hippomanic Jen said...

Congratulations on hitting double figures. It was such a lovely day and I was proud to be a 'bucket holder' for you.

I'm even more proud to know that you are still together, have two lovely children, and a new table.

Long dark hair, blue eyes said...

Happy Anniversary!

I am sure the next ten years (and the ten after that and after that and after that) will all be as wonderful as these first ten.

Allegro ma non troppo said...

Well, for those of us who were 16 in 1998, a 2003 wedding worked pretty well!

That is the best picture ever. Crikey...

CynthiaK said...

Happy Anniversary, and what a great story about the table!

The Blonde Duck said...

I wondered over from SITS. Happy Anniversary! Sorry about the table.

tinsenpup said...

Wow... It's like 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'; the table has aged horribly, showing all the slings and arrows of bed bugs and kitchen renovations, while the marriage has stayed young and fresh. Cool...

Whiney Momma said...

Congratulations and what a beautiful wedding picture!

Dee said...

Happy Anniversary!