No Self Respecting Man Would Sit at a Turquoise Picnic Table

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Kristin Schell’s sojourn as an exchange student in France, with their long, boisterous three-times-a-day family meals, instilled a hunger in her heart to recreate the same kind of experience in her own home here in the States. The problem, however, was that our hectic way of life – and her obsessive slavery to being the perfec host – doomed her efforts to failure. That is, until one day she did something very simple: she put a picnic table in her front yard. “I declared my intention,” she writes in The Turquoise Table: Finding Community and Connection in Your Own Front Yard,” to be a front yard person to the world.”

What Kristin discovered was the importance of convenience in showing love to our neighbors. We do indeed live in an extremely chaotic culture that disolves relationships like Alka Seltzer in water. By simply putting a picnic table in her front yard and inviting her neighbors to join her anytime, Kristin removed the hospitality hassle of having to set a date, clean her home and plan elaborate meals for her guests. Instead, the picnic table made relationship building with her neighbors easy, spontaneous, and sustainable. (You can learn more about Kristin Schell’s Tourquioise Picnic Table at KristinSchell.com.)

The only problem I have with her table is the color. You’ll notice in the picture above, which is from Kristin’s website, that only women and girls are at her picnic table. The reason is because no self respecting man would think it cool to sit at a turquoise picnic table. It’s way too feminine.

So here’s the deal. I’m thinking I’d like to put a picnic table in my front yard and invite neighbors to join Patti and me as well. But my picnic table is going to be rugged and manly: the kind of table I can use to cut wood on, pound nails into and bend metal with. Maybe I’ll even put a vice on one end. I’ll have Darren up the street teach me how to rebuild a carburetor on it. I’ll definitely use it to work on my laptop. And it’ll be great for potting plants.

We’ll have meals with neighbors on it too. But Patti will have to bring out a tablecloth.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

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