A TABLE CAPTURES FOND MEMORIES

Sometimes you buy something that had little use until, unexpectedly, it became your favorite possession. Such is the story with an old table I purchased in college for only a few dollars. The table served its purpose in furnishing my paltry college apartment (and budget). But it had a horrible finish on top and was a bit difficult to look at. Even after restaining it and etching in some designs, it was still a lost cause. I planned to sell (or more likely discard) it upon graduation.

But then I had an idea.

I have always been a sentimental person. I save old ticket stubs, playbills, and champagne corks from important occasions. But I don't like clutter. Strange conflict, I know. I was always trying to figure out what to do with these items that I couldn’t stand to throw away but also didn’t want to keep. One evening, while looking distastefully at the aforementioned table, I decided to cover the entire table with my collection of small clutter-like sentiments. I decided that after each ticket stub or memento was perfectly placed, I would cover the whole table with a round pane of glass to capture the collage of stuff in between.

In a passion-fueled crafty blitz, I headed to the local hardware store and found a pane of glass, as well as some wood separators to keep all the mementos in place. After a joyful experience of assembly, I coined my creation the "memory table." And the memory table has followed me ever since. I never would have guessed that the worthless old table would become such a priceless possession.