We bought this stove at an antique store 22 years ago. It was beautiful and I knew it would be perfect in our dining room as a bar.
We used it for 15 years and it was perfect in our dining room, bottles and glasses and trinkets sat atop it and became the conversation starter for many parties.
When we bought a new dining room table 7 years ago, there was no longer room for the stove but I felt sure I could sell it….since we loved it so much, I knew others would, too.
Naturally, we moved it to the front porch, where I diligently advertised it online, first for $500 (the price we paid), then lowering it to $400, then $300.
No one was interested at all….a few would ask about it, and when I said it wasn’t usable as a stove, but it was ideal for a bar, the interest was gone.
Over the years, I’ve tried selling it multiple times, each time lowering the price, even though it hurt me to do so. I knew it was special and I wanted it to go to someone who would use it in some special, unusual way.
When we were re-vamping the front porch this summer, and moving furniture around, we looked at the stove again knowing it would no longer fit in and wondered if it would sell this time.
I decided I would call a few antique shops and see if they wanted to buy it, still unwilling to just toss it away.
Before I could get around to calling those antique shops, Mac and I were sitting on the porch one morning and I looked over at the small makeshift table we have by the front door. It was covered with the detritus of outdoor, country life….bird seed, a hammer, gloves, random nails, and some mosquito spray.
If only, I wondered out loud, we had a space to put all those things, it would be much neater….
The stove was sitting RIGHT THERE, practically yelling at me with it’s top raised…ME ME ME…I can do it!! Just keep me!
And so we did.
We moved it around the corner of the porch, made a space for it, and now it’s happily hanging out where it was supposed to be all along. In our home, it’s repurposing complete once again.
I think about how we give up on ourselves when we no longer ‘fit’ in a space….unwilling to acknowledge that we’ve grown and changed.
We’re pretty busy beating ourselves up for no longer fitting in to whatever we fit into before, unaware that it might be the location that changed instead of us.
Whatever the change, whatever the difference, we still do fit in….exactly where we’re meant to be.
We just have to find OUR spot to land.
with Glitter & Grace,
Sasha