THE NEW OLD DESK
It's Saturday morning. I sit here on the couch and the TV is blaring but I hear nothing. The picture is bright with lights and changing colors and people are running around but me,,,,, I see nothing. All the sounds I hear and all the pictures I see are in my mind. Oh me I think to myself. My brain has no discipline. It goes where ever it wants to go. I try my darndest to change the channel of my mind but my brain is cross wired I'm sure. The story it is telling seems to have no plot. In actuality it is kind of boring. I ask myself, "Why are we going here??? What's the point??? I finally succumb. It has taken a lifetime, but I have learned the hard way, that I can't overpower my brain no matter how hard I try. "OK ALREADY " I tell myself. "Go ahead and tell your ol' story. Go ahead and feed whatever it is that is hungry inside of you. I'll just sit back and be bored"............. And so the story begins:
It was about 35 or so years ago and we were in need of a desk. You know. Just a common desk. Not too big. Just something functional. Something to sit and pay bills at. Somewhere to store a few records. It was probably a Saturday morning much like today. As we headed out, we stopped by the in-laws house. I have no idea why. Maybe the drop the Girls off for a short visit while we were shopping. As we walked in the door the girls were excited to see Granny and PaPa and we explained where we were headed. My mother in-law listened intently as we told her we were going to buy a desk. She told us she had an older desk that they no longer used that we were welcome to.
It was a very simple desk. Made of clear maple wood. It was small but had several drawers. By no means was it a show piece but would easily fit into a corner of a room. She said they had bought it many years ago and it had served its purpose in their household. We were welcome to it if we wanted it. My first thoughts were, "This will work great!!!!! And the price is right!!!! and, and, and, I won't have to go shopping!!!!!" This was what I call a WIN WIN WIN situation. We loaded it up and home we went with our brand new old desk.
When we arrived back home and unload our new desk, I took my first hard look at it. It was a good piece of furniture, had very good bones as they say, but it did have a blemish or ten and more that a few scratches. As I had seen when first loading it up, it wasn't beautiful but beauty wasn't what I was after anyways. I was more interested in usefulness. The more I looked the more I decided that all the desk needed was some TLC...... you know tender loving care. I soon made a decision....Time to refinish the desk. Awwwww....... "Blemish Be Gone"......That must come in a can I thought so off to the hardware store I went. At the hardware store, I was introduced to a can of what is called "Kutzit. The label said it was a "miracle product." Just brush it on and it does all the work. Of course the directions did tell me to wear rubber gloves and I always follow directions ( I think you call that a sarcastic statement. I am a man after all)...... These same directions also told me to use it in a well ventilated area. I decided that the driveway was as well ventilated as you can get so to the driveway I went. Me and our new old desk. As the directions told me to do, I got me a paint brush, a putty knife, paper towels, of course my rubber gloves. The directions also said I needed safety goggles but since I didn't have any I just wore my sun glasses. You of course understand how important it is to look cool when you are doing manly things like refinishing furniture using some ungodly dangerous toxic chemicals. This Kutzit turned out to be all it was advertised. Just brush on a very generous coat, then you wait, and as Peggy will attest to, I'm very good at waiting, and then scrap it off with your putty knife. The more I scraped off this combination of wax build up, old varnish and toxic Kutzit solution, the bigger mess I had. I was just thankful I had followed the directions and gone outside to my well ventilated driveway because I knew all I would have to do when our new old desk was stripped was move the desk out of harms way pick up the dirty paper towels and hose down the driveway. I was not yet halfway through with the new old desk make over and I could already feel my head and chest swelling up with this thing we call pride. I couldn't wait until I was finished to show off to Peggy so I called out to her to come look at how good of a job I was doing. As she came out she oohed and awwwed at the progress I was making and my chest and head swelled more and more. Peggy, being the supporting wife she is decided she would sit and watch her manly husband performing this manly deed with these toxic chemicals. Now here is where the problem started. I think she was at fault but she said it was all my fault. First off, I had read and followed all the directions. On the other hand she had not read the directions. Secondly the directions said nothing about wearing rubber pants if you intended to sit down on the driveway in a well ventilated area. Thirdly, I didn't ask her to sit down, on the driveway and watch her husband perform the macho procedure on our new old desk. Therefore, it had to be her fault she had a big blister of her sittin' down part...... Not mine.
Well, we finally got over the blame game and all I had to do was award her a purple heart for the collateral damage she received while serving in hazardous duty as a supportive wife. Meanwhile after getting the old new desk stripped of what we later started to refer to as shrapnel, we sealed and sanded the desk and we sealed and sanded the desk and we sealed and sanded the desk again. We then applied three coats varnished and had a finished product. We had our very own new old desk. Our youngest daughter Vicki now has that desk and when I walk into her house, a smile comes to my face and a humbleness comes to my heart. A smile because of the refinishing experience and a humbleness because that desk is just like you and me. You see, all God wants is for us to give ourselves to Him. Sure we have a blemish or ten just like the new old desk. W have numerous scratches too, just like the desk. He doesn't care how pretty we are or how big and grand we are. He sees us a useful and functional, and He loves us, just as Peggy and I saw and loved that desk. He will take you and strip you of all our imperfections. He will sand you and "Seal You" and put a clear coat on you just I we put one on that old new desk. Will you be prettier than you were before? Not to the world but you will be beautiful to God, and you will be dressed in a new glow like you never had before.
Yes, it is just an old desk. It is small. It is plain. But oh the stories it can tell. It was a much better story than was on TV on this Saturday morning. It was something to think about on this Saturday morning............................
