New Chest

Last Saturday Rob and I went over to Dothan and bought this chest at Land of Cotton, our favorite antique mall. The nice man who helped us wheel it out to the car on a hand truck told us it was made of American chestnut. Now I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s an interesting thought—that our chest is made of an iconic, tragic American tree that’s now basically extinct.

Rob and I love going to Dothan. We have lunch at Del Taco (a restaurant we don’t have in Tallahassee), then head over to Land of Cotton. Land of Cotton is housed in an old K-Mart shopping center and boasts 20,000 square feet of retail space. We always stay at least two hours, walking the maze-like aisles packed with vintage Coca-Cola signs, duck decoys, Fiestaware, tin toys, iron beds, quilts, pottery, and other treasures. Rob hums along with the ’70s soft rock that is inevitably playing and points out all the macrame owls he can spot.

“Why do you always show me the owls?” I said on Saturday in mock exasperation.

“Because . . . they’re funny?” he said, sheepishly.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. If I didn’t keep a tight rein on things, our house would be absolutely full of macrame owls.