The Old Cedar Chest

About 53 years ago, a barely 19 year old Daniel Yutzy started to make a cedar chest for a girl he was intending to propose to. (I said “Yes!” on the eve of my 19th birthday, on October 14, 1972). It was made over the same pattern as the cedar chest that his father, Ralph, had made for his fiancé, Katie, back in the mid 40’s. Back in those days, an engagement ring was unheard of in our circles (Daniel and I still do not wear wedding bands) but a watch or a handcrafted item like a cedar chest were the usual gifts given to a girl to seal the promise. Daniel and his Father finished it before the wedding, and it became a constant in every home we lived in.

Usually it was a part of the living room furniture, situated under a picture window. Through the years, first our foster children and then “The Five Offspringin’s” used it as a craft table, a coloring stand, a window seat or anything else for which it might be deemed handy. The years were hard on it. It looked really rough. A broken leg, a cracked top, lots of deep scratches, even evidence of some permanent markers. It troubled the heart of Certain Man a lot. It was not how he intended The Cedar Chest to be used, much less look. Sometime ago, he decided that he was going to refinish it, and he hauled it out to his workshop where he has been working on it off and on ever since. There have been other projects that have come in between, but last week while I was in Virginia, he finished it. I came into the house after a harrowing journey, and there it sat in its refinished splendor. The man I love most had done another labor of love and the result was amazing.

I am in a far better position to know the quality, artisan workmanship, and time that went into restoring this nostalgic piece of furniture than I was as the recipient of this gift as a nineteen year old. I liked it then. This young man that I was marrying had put so much labor into it, and he was modestly proud of what he had done, but I didn’t quite realize the value of such a gift. The years of living with a man who grew up with a knowledge of wood, and whose experience in cabinet making has taught me so many lessons, and I’m in awe of his many giftings.

The 50+ year old Cedar Chest is incredibly beautiful to me, and precious. It holds more than a plethora of blankets. It holds memories that rattle around in my head and warm my heart. Memories of love, forgiveness, compromise, teamwork and friendship that have made a teenage marriage not only endure, but thrive. And memories of the sweet, sweet years when our children were all home and a familiar old Cedar chest sat intrinsically present, but little noticed in the variegated and colorful fabric of our lives.

Once again, it sits under a window in our home. Between the two chairs where Certain Man and I often sit. It is at home, and the restoration is something I will always treasure.

#myheartgivesgratefulpraise