Daddy's Desk

In our childhood home,

this was always just referred to "Daddy's Desk".

 

Here's how things were usually located at homework time when I was growing up:

Kid #1: "Mom, where's the stapler?"
Mom: "On Daddy's desk".
Kid #2: "I need rubber bands."
Mom: "They're in the top left drawer of Daddy's desk".
Kid #3: "Where is the typewriter paper?"  (Yes, we still used typewriters back then!)
Mom: "Look in Daddy's desk, under the Christmas cards with Santa on the front."

Our parents, like many of their generation, bought this mahogany Governor Winthrop desk shortly after they were married in 1946. I never remember a time when the desk was not in our house.

And it would be a rare evening when my father wasn't sitting at it, quietly sweating over the bills for a family of six, whipping through a crossword puzzle, reading, balancing the checkbook, or drawing detailed plans on graph paper.

 

 The desk held his phone, pens, calculator and favorite photos.

This was in the time before computers; Dad had everything he needed right in that desk.

Dad passed away in 2005, but the desk stayed in Mom's home, as it always had.

 

 After Mom passed away in April of last year, the desk was the only thing I wanted. It wasn't just a practical choice; I wanted it for the memories it holds in its many drawers and cubbies.
 

In this drawer we found a photo of Daddy taken in Europe during WWII.

And when I polished the desk, I found these "secret compartments" I didn't even know were there.

I was hoping I might find surprises, or even a secret message, in the bottom. But they were empty. Maybe Daddy hadn't found them either.

 This antique pewter inkwell always sat on Daddy's desk.

When I opened it, I found some coins he had tucked away.

One was a British "Three Pence" dated 1937.

He must have brought that back from England with him after the war.

The camera Dad carried through Europe with him sits in its well-worn leather case

on top of the desk.

Here's Dad at his desk, probably doing the Sunday crossword puzzle.

He could finish the New York Times puzzle faster than anyone I knew.

 

I'll sit at Daddy's desk tomorrow morning, the crossword puzzle open before me,

wishing that he was still here to help me finish it when I get stuck.

Which I inevitably will!

Do you have a favorite family piece that brings back

happy memories of childhood for you?

 

 

 

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