In 1969, when my parents brought home the desk from Kroehler’s, none of us in the family could have predicted the years of study that simple, three- drawer, rectangular Task Desk would see. At the time, Mom was working on her Master’s Degree from the University of Chicago in Spanish Literature. She would come home from the commute to Hyde Park twice a week, lock herself in the small, spare bedroom, which also served as a nursery for my little sister, and plink away on the Smith-Corona sitting on The Desk.
A few years later, my Dad used it while earning his Teaching Certificate at North Central College. Throughout the years, The Desk saw homework and presentations, papers and speeches from my siblings and me during our District 203 K-12 years.
After my brother, Dan, returned from the Navy, The Desk went into his room where he used it for his studies at North Central College. Taking advantage of his GI Bill eligibility, he transferred to U of I his sophomore year and took The Desk with him to work on a Finance Degree. However, it would be a couple of years later, in 1987, that The Desk would truly get its maximum usage when Dan was accepted to the U of I Medical School Program.
The Desk was moved to a small apartment in Peoria, where U of I’s Medical School is located. I can only imagine the late night study sessions in Biology, Chemistry, Math, Physics and all the other disciplines that go into obtaining an MD Degree. In the spring of ’92 Dan received his Medical Degree and relocated to Hyde Park, with The Desk in tow, where he had been accepted for his Residency as a Doctor of Pathology. Tragically, Dan died less than a year later.
I picked up The Desk from his apartment and returned it to Mom’s house. It sat there as a reminder of Dan’s perseverance and educational devotion until 2011 when my middle daughter, Alex, began her college career at SIU. The Desk was starting to show some wear and tear, but I hammered a few nails in and tightened a couple of screws. Alex received her Bachelor’s Degree four years later, and The Desk made another move to Denver, where she had been accepted for DU’s Post Graduate Program in Forensic Psychology.
Three years later I was back in Denver with a moving truck, bringing Alex and The Desk to a small one bedroom apartment in Oak Park. The Desk, now showing its age from constant usage and relocations, found a nook in her small apartment.
A few weeks ago, Alex let me know that The Desk was falling apart; on its last leg—literally. By chance, a friend had just offered me his beautiful Hooker Furniture Executive Desk. Nearly 5’6″ long, it was too big for Alex’ small apartment. So I gave her my desk, which like Dan’s desk, has followed me throughout my life; I kept my friend’s desk, leaving The Desk “the odd man out.”
I took The Desk to a couple of charitable organizations, but they all declined, saying it was in too bad of shape. I contemplated repairing and refinishing it, but in the end, I placed it out on the curb. Surely, I thought, someone could use it. On Thursday I heard the garbage truck rumble towards my house. I looked out the window and saw the driver hop out of his seat, test the weight of the desk, and then with one fluid, muscular motion, he flung it into the large, green ugly bin attached to the front of the truck, and drove off.
I felt guilt and sadness and appreciation for a simple, three-drawer, rectangular Task Desk that had served its purpose, but run its course.
