The stages of working surfaces

When we are old enough to be aware of and interested in our surroundings we get put on the floor and we soon begin to figure out how to move around and explore. We are applauded when we crawl, pull ourselves up, take a step. That floor is our working surface for pull toys, cars and dollhouses as we play and learn. Another flat surface is the tray of a highchair. We pound on it with fist, hand and spoon, making music and gleaning attention but also experiencing what family meals are like everyday and on special occasions.

From the floor we move up slightly to a child-sized table. Mine was one my dad made. He also made two little benches so that I could share the surface with friends, real and imaginary. I hosted many happy tea parties and practiced coloring in between the lines on that lovely handcrafted working space. As toddlers and preK tots we watch a grownup use kitchen counter space to prepare food and are anxious to stand on a stool to be able to reach and help. We might know an adult with a workbench in a garage or basement and see jars of screws and nails. There may be tools hanging on the wall, sawdust on the floor and an opportunity to see a wood project come together.

By the time homework enters our lives we have recognized that the kitchen or dining room table is used for more than eating. Every Sunday after dinner my mother counted the money that was in the offering plates at church. She made neat stacks of coins and piles of ones, fives, tens and the occasional twenty. One Saturday every December the table was cookie central as we decorated cutout anise sugar cookies. Most evenings when we had company folks stayed around the table to play cards. We used our card table as much as a place to have dinner in front of the TV as for cards or board games. Once I'd left for college my parents sometimes used TV trays so they could share a meal with Peter Jennings.

Many kitchens now have built-in space for eating or sitting with laptop to do assignments, look up recipes, pay bills or plan a vacation. Perhaps such islands have replaced the need for desks, but I think that most homes still have at least one desk. Whether it is in a parent's home office or a teen's room, the typical desk with drawers finds its space. Perhaps there is also an elaborate den arrangement with desk, drawers and shelves or a very basic computer desk that came in a box and had to be assembled. My guess is that dorm rooms still have one desk per student even if the student rarely sits there.

Engineers have draft tables, artists have canvases and chefs their cutting boards as work surfaces. Musicians have stands to hold their scores. Knitters and crocheters have it easy for their projects rest in their laps, and, speaking of laps, my iPad is sitting in mine as I write. At the office I now have a standing desk. It has a crank that allows me to raise or lower it so I can sit or stand. I've seen desks connected to treadmills, supposedly enabling the ultimate of multitasking. 

Teachers still use blackboards, a working surface that represents authority. Meeting spaces have whiteboards, easels and TVs where spreadsheets are shown or clients halfway around the world can be seen. Libraries have tables where patrons sit and read. Travelers are told to put their trays into a locked and upright position indicating it's time to fold up their working surface and prepare to move on.

Each stage of my working surface life has seemed like a graduation, a step up until several years ago when I realized I could no longer sit on the floor to wrap Christmas presents. It had been my tradition for a couple of decades to surround myself with boxes, paper and ribbon, wrapping away while Holiday Inn played in the VCR. That was my first realization that working surfaces do not necessarily last forever. I also know there may come a point when I am back to a highchair-like tray where I will again be fed my meals. 

Right now I am blessed to have people in my life at all of the various stages of all of these working surfaces.  To watch young ones transitions to the next, to see new graduates starting on their professional work surfaces, and to feel as secure as I can be with those that I need and use. What are your daily and special working surfaces? From piano to computer keyboard there are all sorts of interesting options. Let's keep expanding and trying new ones!

Marilyn