The line of cars was several lanes wide and stretched the whole length of the parking lot when we came to pick up our new cabinet. We had just purchased it after months of talk of building one and of half-hearted looking. Finally we made the commitment after my mom threatened to give her china to my neice instead of me.

Our dining room is small and our family is big. WHen the table is stretched out to its full square size and there are people seated there isn't much room left. But I loved those dishes and the memories that would vome with them so we shopped.

After looking locally we finally drove to the far side of the city to the famous Nebraska Furniture Mart, the grandaddy of all furniture stores. We had never been there before and were overwhelmed by the size of the place but there were a lot more options than we had seen anywhere else.

We found the Dining department and were looking them over when Rachel, the saleswoman stopped by to see if she could help us. We hesitantly told her what we were looking for. She convinced us that we would need to order it to get what we needed and helped us through that process. The price was more than 3 times what we had hoped to pay but after all the searching and the mom-threat we went on with it. With order in hand we moved away resigned but not happy trying to convince one another that we were at least done with it all.

We ran into some old friends on our way out and chatted for a half hour or so and then continued through the miles of sofas and lighting and lounge chairs to the escalator. We stepped off the moving stairs into another sea of furniture. Off to our left Angus noticed some curio cabinets and suggested we take a walk through. That's where we found this perfect "book case" that we bought to put our china in. No fancy lighting within to display our china, no glass shelves, just simple and lovely. Perfect for us and within our budget.

After a good lunch at an Irish Pub nearby we drove the 70 miles back home content to have left that place behind us... not knowing when or how we would pick up our new cabinet but happy we had found it.