Not incredible pieces that have gotten passed down, but the stuff we have procured in other ways that just keeps on keeping on.

I noticed something yesterday evening as I was sitting at our kitchen table, writing a journal entry in my notebook. The chair across from me had marks on the back of it, chiseled by what was surely a toddler fork or spoon. And it struck me as odd. Where had I seen these etchings before? That’s when I looked to my left and slightly downward. They were the same marks that were carved onto the surface of the table.

Yes, our sons use placemats, ones with the solar system on them. But that didn’t save the table. It certainly didn’t save the rung on the back of that chair, which has no padding on it or drapery over it to protect it. It’s a table set and matching chairs from IKEA that my husband and I bought over five years ago now. That marked chair is actually the same one we use when the boys need haircuts.

Most of the big appliances came included with our house. We’ve bought quite a few pieces of home furniture and small appliances from thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace, at this point. A bookcase that functions as board game storage, which is something we really could’ve used and never have to think about again. A combo coffee and espresso machine that we don’t exactly need, but wanted badly and bought for only 35 bucks. A bread maker, four small dressers (two for each of the kids), lamps, and a car bed. We got the other car bed, a couch, a TV stand, a dresser, and even an outdoor play set from friends and coworkers who were moving. We’re still rocking some stuff that I acquired when I went to college, including a coffee table that has scratches from dogs we don’t have and baby-proofing foam for the children that we do, even though they are now way too old to worry about that anymore. And then, there are the precious few things that were either gifts or actually bought brand new: our bed, a couch from Ashley Furniture, an IKEA bookshelf, a La-Z-Boy recliner, and the washer and dryer. Not to mention the bathroom counter and tool table my husband crafted himself!

None of it matches each other or the rooms they’re in. Very little of it is the latest and greatest in trends or technology. Yet none of it is falling apart or broken.

That last part is probably what made those family heirlooms possible to pass down. They were strong and steady and made entirely original. I’ve also heard and read about the memories people have of gathering around that particular dining room table and other similar sentiments.

I swear, this coffee table we have threatens to break every time our boys sit on top of it, despite how many times I’ve asked them not to, and yet it hasn’t. It’s a two-tier, so they’ve always had fun crawling through it, and it remains a crucial piece to their many living room blanket forts. The thing looks beat to hell, the wood now scarred — and not in the stylish and charming kind of way that people make furniture or floors look. However, both boys cruised around that thing when they were toddlers and left tiny bite marks in the foam. I’ve been working on removing the foam, except then it leaves old tape and residue behind, so that’s a whole ‘nother project. Whether I finish doing that or not, those two kids will have to punch a hole through that table before we get rid of it. And we’d most likely keep an eye out for one at a thrift store.

There’s something that feels good and nostalgic about owning secondhand items. They have that special association if they’ve been passed down in your family and a special feeling if they’re from a friend or stranger as well. Even if we’re possibly the last people to have that coffee table or the outdoor play set or the dressers, at least we extended the lifetime of those pieces for just that little bit longer. Maybe, much like being in a starter home, you have your starter furniture, picked from this place or pulled out of that situation. As our boys get bigger and our house gets bigger, we’ll get newer family furniture as everything grows and changes. Maybe those will be the pieces that we pass down.

Or maybe it’ll be anything that just keeps on going. At this moment, I’m sitting on an office chair I’ve had since college at a desk that we bought from a surplus office equipment store. This is where I write when I want to use the desktop computer, and I’m pretty sure this desk is made entirely of metal, so it’s going to be around for a long time yet. Who knows who we’ll pass this bad boy onto someday.