Today is going to be a busy day. I feel like, however, everything is going on around me, and I am just sitting here thinking about the past. I think about all the stories of the people around me. I think about all their struggles and all their failures. I also think about their small and silent victories.

There are very few constants in this life. I have moved from place to place, school to school, and friend to friend, but one thing has been around for a majority of my life: The kitchen table. My family didn’t get nice things back in the day, but one evening I remember my parents excitement when the table had been delivered. We were in Virginia Beach at the time, and some of the neighbors helped us piece the thing together. It was a heavy (to a young boy it was) light wood with blue painted borders and a heavy coat of lacquer all over the top. It came with four chairs and a bench. We have broken bread with many a person around that table. Many conversations were held around that very table. I have even cried many a tear there, but I wonder how it has lasted this long. I remember the thing almost breaking. We moved from Virginia to California to Florida with the thing, and it is still in decent shape. I really do feel like it stands as a symbol of stability to a life that would otherwise be pure and total chaos.

Today I look at the table and remember those years. My sister is getting married; it is hard not to reminisce. She was such a young girl back when we first got the thing, and now she is gettin’ hitched. I only wish her the best. I also look forward to the many memories we have yet to fulfill at the table we have spent so much of our lives living around.

Grace and Peace,
Josh