A Writing Desk With a Story of its Own

A lot of visitors from far away places came to spend time with us this summer.

Family members of one type or another from New Orleans, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Oakland made their way to our Ohio home to help us celebrate our nation's birthday in style. But none traveled as far as the piece of antique furniture that came to us from Woodburn, Oregon. Likewise a family member of sorts, the Bridge Writing Desk has taken up residence in the spare bedroom I use as my writing office, and I couldn't be more thrilled to see it there.

A beautiful fold-down desk with beveled glass bookcases on either end, it has been in the family for generations, purchased originally by Charles LeForest Bridge, and then passed down through the lineage of sons that followed, until it came to be owned by my in-laws, Donald and Phyllis Bridge. It has moved with them several times, traveling from Nebraska to South Dakota to distant Oregon. The centerpiece of their home in Woodburn, Oregon, I would spend hours each time we visited marveling at how beautifully it displayed the framed photos of family weddings and keepsakes from significant anniversaries on its many shelves. Family history has been written in the travels of this desk, and in each home in which it's been treasured it's held the family's heart close within the glass doors that offer glimpses into the joys of the passing years.

When Don and Phyllis moved into a retirement home recently, the desk was given to their only son, my husband, Jim. After being carefully crated and shipped back east to our home here in Ohio, it stood empty and open, inviting us to fill it's shelves with the lore and love of our own growing family. More than just a display case, however, it's the desk feature itself that now intrigues me. Each time I fold down the writing board, I likewise want to pull inspiration from the travel and history the piece holds into the literal writing I do in this room. So I've filled the shelves, as Phyllis did, with photos of our ongoing lives, but also with books I use for reference and those which hold published pieces of our own family's tale in their pages. I've filled the many cubbyholes with all the writing necessities that used to clutter up my computer desk, and the drawers below with blank stationery and note-cards, reminding me that there is still much life left to be lived and written about as our branch of the Bridges follows family tradition and continues to explore and expand.