Table with Meaning

I have a table given to me by my mother after I got married. It had been in our home since I was young, and was given to her by a neighbor who told my mother that the table had been built by her grandfather. She was of Scandinavian descent, I think Swedish, and her grandfather had used ancestral designs to create this table.

My mother was a housewife most of her married life and seemed happy in that role. When I was in junior high, our neighbor, who was a single mother, asked my mother if she would mind watching her son after school until she got home from work. She didn't have much money to spare, and I don't think my mother asked for any. I'm sure she offered to babysit for free since she was always home waiting for all of us. Anyway, the arrangement was made and we had another little boy around the house for a couple of hours after school each day.

I don't remember much about him; my younger brother must have kept him busy. But, I do remember the Christmas strudel that his mother baked for us every Christmas for years until they moved away. It was the best strudel I've ever tasted. Then one year she asked my mother to come over and choose something from her furniture since they were moving and couldn't take everything with them. My mother tried to refuse but was eventually persuaded that her friend really wanted her to do this. She chose the table.

When I got older, I wondered why this neighbor would have given my mother something that must have been important to her. I now realize that she wanted to thank my mother for helping her out when she had no where else to turn.