If this table could talk

I was just sitting on one of our antique chairs that went with a table had belonged to my late parents and my deceased grandparents.

When I was a kid living on 1929 Broadway St. at the corner of Spruce St. in uptown New Orleans, this table provided the platform where my parents and grandparents entertained so many wonderful folks, especially with an Hispanic background.

My dad had moved to the Big Easy when he was five back in the early 1920s from Mexico City, as my grandpa had needed to get move from higher elevation for his heart concerns … interesting that he moved to “below sea level” with this transition!

So this dining room table would be able to tell me many neat stories in both English and Spanish!

Being the “caboose” of the family … that is, the last of three, born after my sister, Helen, and brother, David, and I could understand some Spanish dialect, but unfortunately, I was never fluent in that lovely language – so, I would share some “Span-glish” tales.

I remember as a kid sitting at this dining room table and marveling at the many different Creole and Spanish meals that would be served, but since I was a picky eater, I mostly recall the red beans and riice dishes that I would eat more than on Mondays!

And how can I forget the times I would get in trouble for spilling my milk at the table?

How did we get to own such a wonderful treasure?

After 1985, following my graduate Social Work Studies in San Diego, we had moved to uptown New Orleans – three doors from where I grew up with my family, and my Mom gave the table to us.

When my late parents got displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and we had moved earlier to Baton Rouge, they stayed with us and broke bread many times with us at this table, and once with our special friend and priest, Msgr. Robert Berggreen.

Also, nothing can bring me more consolation than knowing that we once had had a Mass by Msgr. Berggreen at our house, before Hurricane Katrina, accompanied by some of the nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, founded by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The monsignor used this table for the altar.

Like the Last Supper, I thank God for the eternal eucharistic love that has been shared with loved ones at this table!

Horcasitas, a licensed clinic social worker, is founder/owner of Prayer Care LLC in Baton Rouge.