It is amazing how quickly clutter accumulates in our lives. Soon after our the upset of our fire, we began acquiring again, mainly items to tide us over until our clothes, kitchenwares, and furniture were cleaned. One such item was a pine coffee table that I bought for Theo’s room as a Lego play table. We were renting furniture, but he only had a bed and a dresser and was playing with his Legos on the floor. I had stopped by my favorite local thrift store Out of the Closet, and I remember my excitement at finding such a lovely table for only $15 and then when I was able to fit it in the back of my new Prius C (bought to replace my adorable red VW Beetle which did not survive the fire.) For over a year, the table served Theo well. However, when we returned to our home, it was too big for his new room so I stored it in the garage thinking for sure I would find some use for it again.

But like so many objects we hold onto for sentimental reasons or because we think they might come in handy, the table soon joined the ranks of clutter, taking up space but serving no real purpose in our lives. We pulled it out to hold games for our New Year’s party, but today – even though I noticed one of our cats enjoying its cover – I chose not to heave the heavy table back down to the garage, where it would sit indefinitely not being used. I heaved it back into my Prius and drove back to the same Out of the Closet store. Since I admire both the mission and the witty name of this AIDS healthcare charity, and because I shop there often and I know and like the staff there, I wanted to give them the chance to sell the table again. Perhaps another mother with a Lego-loving child might see it and be as thrilled as I was to find it.