In 2000, about an hour before I went to fetch my wife Mary from her stay at NYU hospital after she had a brain tumor removed. We lived in Jersey City then. I think I made it in about thirty minutes, using a leftover piece of laminate from our counter-top and a couple of scraps of MDF. They told us she would have to be laid up in bed for a couple of weeks, so I thought it could be for meals. It got used maybe twice as she refused to stay in bed. Then we put our little t.v. on it. Years later, in Tennessee, when Henry was two, he pulled the t.v. off the thing and pinned himself under it. He was okay but the screen always had an off-color corner afterwards. Henry learned how to brush his teeth standing on it in our tiny pink and green tile bathroom in Tennessee. We had it hidden again until just recently as May has gotten enough balance to manage climbing on it. I have no idea how it has lasted this long. The legs are still sturdy even though I can't remember using glue. The laminate has yet to peel. This weekend Henry and May used it to do flips onto his futon. Laying on his futon, we have been piling together to watch the Planet Earth series on Mary's laptop. The laptop fits perfectly on top of it.
