grandma's kitchen table

at grandma jingly keys' house, memories were made by the minute. some of my best memories of her revolve around her kitchen table. first, let me describe the table...round and big...it was probably close to six feet in diameter...off white with charming 1970s-ish gold flecks. when there were family parties, we'd crowd around the table elbow to elbow and eat (faygo chicken, corn, crockpot o'mashed potatoes, and, of course, gram's delicious cookies or texas sheet cake). we had a lot of family meals and parties there.

my earliest recollections are of her making oatmeal cookies and caramel corn at that table. when i close my eyes i can still smell her kitchen on those days. sometimes i would help her count cups of sugar and oats as she measured for her quadruple batches of cookies. when i was old enough, she would let me stir the boiling hot caramel for the caramel corn. her home is where i learned to bake.

we would chit-chat as we worked. she used to tell me stories from her childhood. i'd tell her about school and my friends. sometimes we'd talk about what was happening on her shows (ryan's hope and AMC). once in a while, she'd pour me a small glass of tab. i was in heaven!

sometimes, she'd do office work for grandpa's business at that table. i'd sit with her and "work" too...typing on her typewriter, writing letters, and sometimes coloring.

i can remember her changing the babies' diapers on that kitchen talble. she'd lay a bath towel down, get a warm wet washcloth (no wipes back then) and get to business.

gram and grandpa certainly got their money's worth out of that gold-flecked table. that's the kind of kitchen table i want to have.