SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. –
The 2009 holiday season brings the first test of my craftsmanship in constructing something for my family's dining experience - our family dining room table.
I recently finished building this table from bits and pieces of wood I've had hanging around the house through my many tours of duty for the Air Force.
So how did this table come about? Earlier this year, my family and I moved from New Jersey to Scott AFB. We left a home which was too small for a table. When we got to Illinois, our house had space to include a dining room.
My wife Bobbi came up with a great idea. She said, "How about you build us a table out of that old wood we have in the garage?"
In the garage I had pieces of faded, gray wood planks I've used for shelves for a number of years. I took the wood planks and placed them in a rectangular shape on the garage floor of what would eventually form the table top.
Standing back, I looked at those old planks and had a flush of memories.
I first looked at a pair of planks I remember getting from a friend when my family and I were stationed at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. The boards came from an old house my friend was refinishing. I found out later they were recycled from old munitions crates used at the base in the 1960s.
Moving to middle plank of the table, I remember getting that long piece of barn wood from my wife's sister, Lisa Habersetzer, in Wisconsin. Throughout my military career, Lisa has been very close to our family for as long as we've been a family. Having memories of her place with us through this table is a fitting tribute to her support of our military family.
On the opposite edge of the table top are two very wide, old growth white pine boards. We picked up the boards in the city of Negaunee in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Ten years ago, my wife and I heard from a daughter she gave up for adoption long before she knew me - Chrystal Chartier. The two white pine boards we got from a home she was renovating in Negaunee about five years ago. The white pine boards are a forever reminder of how a family can fully come together as Chrystal has made our family complete.
The table is like a scrapbook. To me, it represents the memories of why I go about doing what I do every day as an Airman and as a husband, father and grandfather - it represents my family and my military family history.
This holiday season, I wish the best to all my fellow military members and their families. I hope you all have something, like a table, that gives you that special reminder of how special a family can be.