I come from a long line of re-purposers who fin "treasures" at yard sales and sometimes along the side of the road on the eve of clean up day. Perhaps it's the desire to reuse and recycle or perhaps it's the exhilaration of the find!
My son once carried an aging exercise bike home from a walk with the dog.
Broken shovel? No problem. Just splice and it's like new.
So I was not at all surprised when my son gave me a restored, old school desk for Christmas a few years ago. I can only imagine the layers of grime and dirt he removed, but the end product was smooth and lovely with a patina that suggested this desk remembered many students learning to read and write.
It served as an end table in my living room for a while. After my renovation, it found itself in the basement playroom, a place for visiting grandchildren to pretend to read. Then, this fall, Virtual Kindergarten began and I began to search for a student desk or small table online. As your already know, there were none available anywhere for any price.
Then, one morning, the desk made its way back into the living room where it eagerly returned to daily use as a site for a student learning to be a reader and writer during a 21st Century pandemic. It eagerly embraced the new technology of a Chromebook while holding treasures in its vast belly. It was thrilled to find pencils in its designated pencil groove after many years.
While my son could not have anticipated,
I'm grateful he is wired to be a re-purposer,
I'm grateful that somehow,
He's "in my living room" every day.
8 comments:
I love your desk! And I love that your son is carrying on your tradition. When I was a little girl, I one that was similar. My mom got it somewhere, and repurposed it, and painted it orange. I loved it! I wonder where it went.
Love that little desk and clearly, a whole lot of love went into restoring it. I had one similar to it when I was little and used it to play school. I'm teaching Kindergarten remotely and I'd love to see one of my students sitting behind a desk so sweet.
That desk is lovely! And I love how it has been repurposed in so many ways. I also loved the comparision from pencils to Chromebooks. From writing to typing. Wonderful post.
I love that desk. In fact, I've been looking for that kind of thing just because. I love the find. It's in the find, the figuring out how to fix and then what to do with it. I feel like repurposing connects us to so much.
This touches me deeply. I saw the picture, read your post, and looked at the photo again—and I remembered my days as a student sitting in a desk like that. Now I’m feeling all the feels and memories are bubbling to the surface after lying dormant for decades. I want to know this desk’s stories, it’s secrets, the names of all who sat and learned in its presence.
When my daughter was in elementary school we found an old school desk at Goodwill and painted it purple, her favorite color.
I absolutely love the word "repurpose" as well as what it means, as well as this story of the desk.
I love the story of This Old Desk and thinking of pencils in that pencil groove once again
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