Rewind

All my growing up years, there was a cedar chest at the end of Mother and Daddy’s bed. I would show you a photo from those years, but astonishingly, there isn’t one. I’ve looked at all the pictures in my album, in my parents’ album, and I’ve asked JoAnne. It’s hard to imagine that a piece of furniture that was in our lives for about sixty-nine years doesn’t show up anywhere, but I can’t find it. Not a corner, not the top, a side, nothing.

A sample of the paper that was sometimes stapled to the inside of the lid of Cavalier cedar chests

As I’ve looked around the web, I’ve found pieces that look much like it. It’s probably not a Lane, one of the most popular and well-known brands of cedar chests. Those usually had a branded “Lane” on the inside of the lid. Another contemporary brand at the time was Cavalier. Sometimes they had a brand, sometimes they had a little metal “cavalier” attached, but sometimes they had a paper stapled on the inside of the chest’s lid. Mother’s doesn’t have the paper, but it does have four staples, with the little paper tags under them, as though a piece of paper was torn off, or worn off. Plus, when I googled the Pattern number and Serial number along with “cedar chest,” the Cavalier information popped up. So, I’m thinking that’s what it might have been.

At some point, when “antiquing” furniture became popular, Mother went to work on the cedar chest. I don’t remember exactly when she did it, I just remember that she did do it. She painted it an avocado green color, then put a stain over the paint. The process involved carefully wiping off the stain, evenly and straight, leaving a slight sheen of stain over the paint. She was a careful and precise worker. And the chest looked great. She was probably happy with it for the rest of her life.

I’ve had the cedar chest for a few years, and I’ve always wished it back to its original condition. This week, I followed through. (Understand that I do not like to strip furniture. I just like the way it looks when I’m finished.)

In my memory, the chest is dark (before it got “antiqued”). Dark finishes were popular, and all sorts of furniture were finished with a darker stain. When I scraped off the paint, I could see that dark finish coming off, too. I was startled at how pretty the wood grain was, and absolutely amazed at the lovely inlay pattern on the front. I don’t remember that at all. Instead of returning it to its former self, I’m leaving it light, so the lovely grain shows.

As I spread on the first layer of paint stripper, I suddenly thought of Mother, probably sitting in the very same garage where I was sitting, spreading on the first layer of green paint over the old, dark cedar chest. And I felt like I was rewinding, undoing what she had done. But, old isn’t always bad, just as new isn’t always good. Different is just… different. We change, what we like changes, and sometimes changes are wonderful. I’m going to assume that Mother would like what I have done to the cedar chest. Just as she updated the thing years ago, I am updating again. And I think it looks great!

Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth!
Isaiah 42:10a (NRSV)

The Bible is full of new things. As I looked through the choice of biblical translations, I found lots of “new.” New King James, New Revised Standard, New International Version, New Living Translation, New American Standard. Jesus, however, is the same, yesterday, today and forever. So, in the same way that the old pecan tree in my yard makes new leaves and pecans each year, the sturdy old cedar chest has a new look to it. And the same old Jesus makes me new, every day.