[theoddz]

My father left me his oak desk, after his death. I love, love LOVE this old desk!!! I always have, even though it was, over this desk, the ONLY time my father ever raised his hand to me. I used to love to get into Pop's desk, whether he was around to supervise or not. He was always telling me, "STAY OUT OF MY DESK!!". I never listened. Pop took a belt to me, one day, and that was the last day I ever sneaked my way into this old desk. From then on, I'd ask him if I could peek at his "neat stuff" in the top drawer (where the "good stuff" was). He'd let me, too, and always praise me for asking him first.

Dad's desk was full of all sorts of trinkets, gadgets and just.....neat stuff!! I once found his old ROTC medals and was totally fascinated by them!! Dad always desired a military career as an aviator, but his eyes were very, very bad (think "coke bottle" glasses) and this made him "4F" for any kind of military service. ROTC was the closest he ever got to a military uniform, much to his great disappointment. His generation fought in the Korean war, as Dad was too young for WWII. Dad went to college, instead, and got his PhD in Entomology (bugs). Dad's desk was always full of all sorts of tweezers/forceps, mounting pins and various tiny figurines of tiny bugs and such. Dad spent many, many hours at this old oak desk. It's solid oak and I've yet to see any nails in its construction. What there is is a LOT of "tongue in groove" work. It makes it that much dearer to my heart, as even the stain finish, on the edge of the top of it, is worn off and reveals the soft glow of the oak beneath it.

Today, I found one more exhilarating secret of this fine old desk. I placed the woofer of my Bose audio system on the floor beneath this desk and it now sounds like an absolute concert hall, here in my office!!! It's almost like this desk has sprung to musical life, like it never has before!!!

Dad, I hope you're listening.

~Theo~