About tables

Yesterday I went out with some of these close friends with whom you feel at home wherever you are. We went to a ‘buteco’; a type of Brazilian pub that looks a lot like a beer garden.  Wooden tables outside, a chair that is a bit uncomfortable, low light, incredibly cold beer and yummy food, the kind that clogs your heart only by thinking of it.

While I was waiting for them to arrive, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. Restless; I observed people around, kept reading the menu, constantly looked  the time on my mobile, and over texted... The only thing I was doing a bit slower was to drink my beer (just because I didn't want to be drunk when they'd finally arrived).

My friends came mostly at the same time; and I became someone else! Someone a lot more like me and whose company I enjoy much more! I was all smiles and even my worries were transformed in jokes.

In our table there was a bit of everything: drinkers and non-drinker; christians and pagans; vegetarians and meat lovers. But, above all, there was a total inexistence of labels and judgments. Nobody “should be or do” differently; nobody wanted the other to be something other than themselves. There was no stress or charges, and the mood remained even with the bill's arrival.

During the whole time I was with them, I completely forgot about the rest of the pub and about my mobile-watch. For me, time disappeared! I was exactly where I should and wanted to be! Present! Whole!

And this is why I simply adore tables... Not the object, the symbol!

Be it in a pub, home, restaurant, café, hall of residence, or garden; the table is the place in which there were presence and sharing, equality, human heat, body and soul nutrition.

Besides, the table is always a place of kindness... “let me serve you”, “can you pass me the salt, please?”, “another bite, anyone?”, “wow, this is amazing, can I get the recipe!”, “I'll wash; after all you've already cooked”, “hey, can I get you another glass?”, “Do you need some help?”, “I brought a bottle of wine for us to have with the pizza”, “I'll get this next round”, “I looove you, maaan!”...

A well lived table is a memory that remains, even when people isn't there anymore or the moment has gone. It survives the distance of Oceans. And I can say this with the property of someone that calls Skype talks “let's have a coffee” just because they once were real talks and coffees. Table moments.

Tables that have little to do with the type or quantity of food and drink you take, and a lot with the way you do it. A well lived table changes its participants, feeds the soul, sweetens life, opens space for new knowledge, allows healing, calms anxieties, and establishes bonds.

At home, a coffee almost never is only a coffee; and a Sunday roast always ends up a small event. And this is why I can't stand to have lunch in front of the TV or the computer. And this is also why I insist so much on tea breaks, happy hours and dinners; real and virtual coffees; they have always given and keep giving me a much better now!