The first stop our class made in the Tower of London was to see the Crown Jewels. As I made my way around the priceless items, I couldn’t help but be impressed. Apparently, a 3,000-carat diamond is a big one. The royal family certainly has quite the collection, but I think the Williams family has certain “jewels” that can rival the biggest diamond on earth.
At the Tower of London, all of the items are placed behind bulletproof glass inside of a massive vault. Although my dining room table at home sits in the middle of the room, the way my mom treated it suggested that it should have been placed along side the Crown Jewels inside the cavernous vault. For the first 10 years of my life, we did not have a real dining room table. No, we did not eat off of the floors in a tiny little shack as mice brushed up against our knees. Our dining room table was small, seating only 5 people. I recall my mom’s frustration whenever we would have family over and people would be forced to eat in the living room. Grandma never mastered the art of eating on the couch without spilling food on the rug.
Once our house was remodeled, we had a full-fledged dining room...but no table. My mom treated her search for the perfect dining room as the holy grail of furniture shopping. I actually recall overhearing her talk to my dad about renting a moving truck and driving to North Carolina to buy a table. I guess this was because for some reason southern people are more capable of putting together a table than us northern folk. The dining room was empty for at least 4 or 5 months before the perfect table was purchased. I have to admit, the table is very nice. It is black wood and square. It’s pretty big too; normally it seats 8, but with the extensions it can seat over 20. The chairs were also treated with care and finesse. Before I could even set foot in the dining room, the chairs had to be Scotch guarded.
Once the dining room was complete with art on the wall and a matching china cabinet filled with new wine glasses, I was ready to sit at the table and experience high-class luxurious dining. Meatloaf would suddenly become gourmet when eaten at this table. One day, I was taking my lunch over to the table to enjoy my new, posh lifestyle when my mom stopped me in my tracks.
“Where are you going with that?” my mom demanded.
“I’m gonna go eat in the dining room.”
“Do you realize how much I paid for that table?”
Even at the age of eleven, I knew what this question meant. Apparently, we were not worthy of using something that we owned. Instead, all meals would be eaten at the island in the kitchen. Except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, eating in the dining room was off limits.
I’m pretty sure if there was a fire in our house, my mom would have used her adrenaline induced superhuman skills to lift the dining room table to safety before making sure my sister and I were not burned to a crisp.
My dad’s “crown jewel” is actually rather new. In November of 2010 he bought a boat. For my entire life, my dad has wanted a boat. Now he has one and I worry that I’ll never see him again. Once the boat was put in the water in May, he’s gone to visit it every day after work and God forbid we don’t spend at least 8 hours out on the water every weekend. Recently, I asked my dad for some gas money, but he told me he needed his cash to buy more supplies for the boat. I see how it is. Dad has a new favorite child. I bet the boat will get better Christmas presents than me. Actually, I’m not even sure he realizes that I’m in London. I haven’t heard from him much since I got here; maybe he thinks I’ve just been upstairs in my room this whole time.
While my family jewels aren’t 3,000-carats, they’re still pretty special, if not for the memories alone. I doubt the Queen shares the same attachment to the coronation crown as my mom had to the dining room table or my dad has to his boat, but if she does, I guess that means I’m not allowed to eat PB&J anywhere near it.
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