The big reveal

Are you all excited? I know I am.

Here it is. The table of my dreams. The one I never, ever thought I’d own since there’s always a better way to spend thousands of dollars than on a kitchen table.

You might have seen it peeking in the picture of the kitchen chair, but whoomp there it is. A Saarinen marble-topped round table (see what I was saying about my marble addiction?). Not long before I found this special little filly, I was telling my parents how much I loved it, but the price tag made it way out of reach. I was contemplating buying a knock off, which would still be expensive but not quite as insane. They suggested scrimping and saving until I could buy the real deal one day, reasoning that something like that would be much less likely to lose its value over the years.

So I settled in for a long wait.

Turns out, I didn’t have to.

I was poking around Craigslist, looking for a table—any round table—to fit into the little nook in the kitchen of the new place. And there she was. I knew I had to act fast, so I called the seller right away, who happened to be home and just a few miles from my office. I moved a few meetings around, jumped into a cab (I almost never take cabs. Don’t even think I didn’t take the train back to work). It was love, and I plunked down half of the money for the table (which while still a steal, wasn’t exactly cheap in my book), made arrangements to pick it up the following Saturday, went back to work and wondered if I had just done one of the dumbest things in my life.

Lucky for me, everything turned out well. The guy selling the table didn’t run off with my money or sell it to someone else with more cash. I was super freaked out because, even after I had seen it, he left it up on Craigslist for the rest of the week. When I had first come to see it, he told me about how his parents bought it for him from 1st Dibs a while back but didn’t want to move it to his new place. I totally couldn’t understand why anyone would leave it behind in move---but I started to a little bit when Marc, his parents and I went to pick it up.

I don’t know how to explain how heavy the top (or even the base, for that matter) is. Months from the move, I think Marc’s dad has still mentioned how heavy it was every time I see him. Back home, it took all four of us to right the thing. Ahh, teamwork and no hernias! It was a lucky day indeed.

It’s so nice when things come together so well, you know? Having the perfect space for the table, family and friends to help you move it, and a sweet deal on something I’ll treasure for years.

So far, my beautiful table been host to such classy happenings as poker games, a couple of cat runway shows, some late-night Taco Bell feasts and many delicious bowls of Cap’n Crunch. I hope she’s not too insulted.

The table easily seats six, so I’ll try to do right by having a nice dinner party at some point.