12/17/2019
🍁 🍂Gathered Around The Table🍂 🍁
In my prior “Letter from the Heart,” I mentioned how my husband, Charlie, has been raised by divorced parents and myself by a single mom. My father’s side of the family lives in Texas, so I only get to see them a few times a year if I’m lucky, but my husband’s family and my mom and stepdad are all local to me. We are very blessed to be able to host Thanksgiving each year and bring all of our local families together under one roof [surprisingly with no drama]. It also serves as a birthday celebration for Charlie since his special day always falls within the same week and there’s nothing more important to him than having us all together.
For a handful of years in my youth, my mom and I lived with my grandmother. She always had the tradition of serving dinner at the table every night. The dining room was the heart of her home where many memories and strong bonds were made. The one thing lacking in my new home (purchased a year ago) is a dining room big enough for a large table, so I decided to utilize the extremely large covered and screened lanai as my dining room. A six, eight, or even ten person table wouldn’t work since we host over 25 people for Thanksgiving dinner each year and the cost of an enormous table was beyond my budget.
With some online research and Pinterest pinning, I convinced my husband to utilize his skills (along with a little help from his dad and best friend) to build us a 12-foot long table in his at-home workshop. Even though the vision started earlier this year, in September the impending deadline was approaching for Thanksgiving dinner and the pressure was on to start the project and have the table finished in time. Many long nights were spent in the shop, but we were able to have it completed just in time to gather around the table on our favorite holiday (although with our large party, we still had to add an extension for extra seating).
This table symbolizes so much for me. It reminds me of my home-cooked meals growing up with my grandmother, it will bring our families and friends together to create memories, and just like this morning when I hosted a small business book club meeting around it, it will help build stronger relationships by breaking bread with those that are special in my life. I am so very thankful for my vision coming to life and also for all of the people that have and will share moments with me around it.
For this holiday season and the coming new year, I hope you take the time to spend quality time with those you love and build deeper relationships with those you have just met, whether that is time spent gathered around a table or not. Cherishing our human connections will bring more joy in your life and theirs.
Your Caring Realtor,
Amber Finch
P.S. It’s not too late to be invited to our special Celebration Brunch event that’s being hosted in January. It’s an exclusive invite-only event for those that have been clients in 2019 and for those that referred our services to a new connection – do you know anyone looking to make a move next year? I would love to invite you, too!
