Our Secretary Desks

 

In our house, there are several locations where I can write.  First and foremost, there is the desk in my study.  Certainly, there is the kitchen table and island counter.  I have a lap desk which is mainly used to hold my laptop while sitting in my favorite easy chair.  There is a desk in our bedroom, but mostly it is there as a TV stand.  We have my son’s grade school desk and hutch in the basement that I have used sparingly.  Lastly, we have two secretary desks which I almost never use.

We bought the first secretary desk when we were newlyweds.  It is a brand new Queen Anne cherrywood piece with a lovely curio cabinet above the fold-down writing desk.  We have used it exclusively as a curio cabinet in our three homes.  It was in the living foyer or living room in our first two homes but has been relegated to a bedroom suite in our current abode.  Our second secretary desk is something we inherited from my Great Uncle Rouben and Aunt Rose Marie.  It has only been with us in our current home.  This Gavoor desk is more of an antique and I am not sure what style this one might be.  While the first is a curio cabinet and writing desk, this second one is a chest of drawers and a writing desk.

Given that I like to handwrite, have personalized stationary, and a collection of fine pens, you would think I would take advantage of these two beauties, especially the antique, to write letters and cards, and even my drafts of my bloggy bits.  I have often thought of doing just that but never have… until today.

Why did I never use these desks? 

There are a few reasons for this.  First, I tend to be a creature of habit.  I have had a desk in our home since we got married.  I did my homework at my desk when I was in school.  When we got our first PC, it went on the desk, further solidifying the desk as a place to work.  Second, the idea of actually using the secretary desks for writing didn’t come to my mind until we move to our current house in Lake Forest.  But our secretary desks were on the second floor, and I did all work and writing on the first floor.  My idea to use these desks became a passing notion.

We toured Abraham Lincolns home in Springfield in 2011 or 2012.  In his house, the great barrister and future president had a most modest writing desk.  It was really just a table and maybe six square feet in surface space.  I was impressed with the output and content of Lincoln’s efforts his desk which was nothing more than a little table.  The notion of big ideas, deep thoughts, eloquently written on a small desk somehow appealed to me.  And dang if we didn’t have two very nice small writing desks waiting to be used at home.

Another good intention became a passing notion.

Today, I was going to do the last of our Christmas cards.  These were the cards that for which I wanted to include a handwritten letter.  Where better to accomplish this task than the second-floor secretary desks.  I fired up a fountain pen.  By fire up, I ran some warm water through the nib of a beautiful Waterman Carene to clear out the dried ink and put in a cartridge.  I gathered some stationery and Christmas cards, made a cup of coffee, and headed upstairs. 

I wrote half of the letters at one desk and the remaining half at the other desk.  It felt good sitting and writing at both.  I liked the Gavoor antique desk a bit more, simply because I knew that Uncle Rouben and Aunt Rose Marie used it to as Uncle Rouben used to say “keep up with my correspondence” which is something that he took great pride in.  I will have to do this more often.