A HUTCH BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A HUTCH

The oak-stained pine hutch left the house on Saturday.  Yep.  That's about all I've got.  It apparently affected me enough to post something about it.  A hutch is described as a piece of furniture used to display and store dishes. This hutch was unlike all the other pieces of furniture that have been bought and taken out of the house in the past month.  I equate it with that beaten up stuffed animal or blanket that kids have that are broken down that are just always going to be there.  Not that this hutch was beaten up or that it ever kept me warm, but it was a staple and a constant piece of furniture.  For 25 years, Ray and I moved this hutch from one house to the next.  My parents bought us this hutch when we first married.  We loved anything "country" at the time.  In our townhouse (the first house we bought), the hutch stood prominently in the dining room displaying dishes and storing more bakeware and china in the cabinets below.  In our first single family home (I call it the Rockhill house, since it was on Rockhill Church Rd), we found a place for it in the dining room really never to be seen except for during holiday dinners and our daughter's birthday parties.  It still displayed those dishes and housed even more dishware that we acquired over the years.  It then came along with us to the house we now live in for only the next three weeks and stood in a nook.  Some would have a "butler's pantry" built in this nook, but our hutch had a purpose now to fill this space.  And it also had to display Mason Jars on the top of it, different colored plates and glasses passed down to me from my parents and to store bowls, placemats, tablecloths and more dishes I again acquired because I couldn't send anything to Goodwill at the time (my, my, my have things changed!).

The hutch leaving the house then brought memories back of our Persian cat, Cody, who was with us for eleven short years.  Why?  I think because Cody was a constant.  Never needed much.  Was always there.  Went with us from the townhouse, to Rockhill, to this house.  Wasn't ever really a lap cat, but he was always there.  Always in a room with someone.  My daughter would stay up until one or two am working on homework, and Cody would be in room with her not needing a thing.  Just hanging out.  Not requiring much.  The hutch needed dusting.  Cody needed grooming and shaving to prevent those hairballs.  Back on track here.  This is a blog about Panama after all.

Of all the furniture I have seen come and go these past few weeks, the hutch was something we hadn't changed.  It wasn't passed down to us, and it wasn't acquired because we moved into someone else's house (when we bought Ray's dad's house--Rockhill--we acquired a great deal of stuff!).  It was a gift that we had both set our eyes on before we married and knew we wanted it to be in our house.  So when the man and woman came to load the hutch onto their flatbed truck and take it away, there was a void.  Not to be sappy, because I know pine wouldn't last in Panama,  I know it isn't the right style, and  it wouldn't make sense to ship.  But if a piece of furniture were to be lugged along the way to Panama, it would have to have been this hutch (who needs couches?).  It was a constant, served a purpose and made us both happy to have received it.   I suppose that is what I will remember most about it then.  Not giving it away (okay, it was sold for a ridiculous price), but how excited Ray and I were to have it in our first dining room twenty-five years ago.

Now here's to getting excited about settling into our new place in Panama.  We will be in rental houses first, so I won't be able to get attached to any furnishings.  This will be a good thing.  I will find other things to attach myself to (the sunshine, the flowers, the fresh fruit) and realize that a hutch is just a hutch.  All will be fine.

Hutch sits empty at the end of the hall in its "nook" with a mason jar remaining on top.  

Cody hanging out with Kringle Bear every Christmas.