Moving the Desk

I learned early about the joys of having a best friend by watching my mama and her best friend.  The two women had been the closest of friends since they were little girls.  Their mothers had been devoted friends and the little girls (both only children) formed a bond that would last their lifetimes.  With no siblings they became closer than many sisters and shared everything with each other, including their children, which is why I am so lucky to have had an extended family.

Any free time they had would usually find them at one home or another.  Which is how they found themselves at our home one Saturday afternoon.  The two women had been visiting and discussing my mother's plan to rearrange the living room, an event that occurred regularly as my mama tried to make the little room look better.  The two women sat on the couch and mentally moved the furniture here and there, trying for the perfect fit.  To help them think they both were sipping on a little vodka cocktail.  After a while, they would get up and move a chair here and a table there.  Then they would sit back down and sip a little longer.  Next came the couch, moved from one wall to another.  A few more sips and they moved the little washstand from one end of the couch to the opposite end.

This went on for some time but they still weren't satisfied with the results.  The problem was a big, antique desk that had been created from poplar lumber.  The massive piece had three large drawers at the bottom and a drop down writing surface at the top with lots of cubby holes inside.  It stood 44" tall, 44" wide and 22" deep and every inch of it was solid, heavy wood.  Now for those of you who aren't familiar with antique poplar pieces, that thing was heavy....really heavy.  I know, it's in my sun room right now and it took four big men to put it there.   My husband once declared that if we ever sold the house, it was going with it...he wasn't moving it again.

The two women sat on the recently moved couch and studied the offending desk as they sipped on their drinks.  It simply had to be moved to the other side of the room to make the room look right.  They thought and thought but nothing else would do but for the desk to make the move.  First they removed the drawers.  Then they tried pushing and pulling.  Nothing moved.  Then they tried "walking" it (tilting the piece until they could pivot it on one corner than another).  Inches were gained.  They sat back down and sipped and thought some more.

Finally mama jumped up and ran to the basement returning with a rug.  Laying it in front of the desk, they began to "walk" it onto the rug.  Eventually, the desk was inched onto the rug.  They sat back down and sipped and thought some more.  Now they still had to move it across the room.  When they were fortified enough for the endeavor, they approached the desk and with one pulling and the other pushing they slid it across the room and into place on the wall.  With a little more "walking" and lots of tugging they removed the rug. 

Exhausted but exhilarated they sat back down on the couch and viewed their rearranged room.  It looked so good they decided they needed another drink to celebrate their success.

Which is why my dad arrived home to find a rearranged living room and two happily  tipsy women enjoying it.  He never did believe that they moved the desk all by themselves.

Never underestimate the power of two determined women and bottle of vodka.