I have always loved chalkboards. I love the feel of the chalk in my hand, the sound of chalk tapping against the chalkboard as letters, words, sentences appear on the black surface. I love the ease with which an eraser can wipe a chalkboard clean.
Perhaps I should’ve been a teacher.
My parents probably don’t remember my desire for my very own chalkboard. I doubt I asked very often, but it was there, that wish for one of my very own.
In California, I was friends with a guy named Dan. He was a very tall guy and he had three sisters – or maybe it was four – but all of the kids had names that began with the letter D. His childhood home had a pool and gorgeous views of Los Angeles. He lived in the guesthouse until he married a reporter, whose name escapes me right now, and they moved to an apartment in the Hollywood Hills.
But the reason I mention Dan and his family is because in the kitchen of his mother’s house, they had one narrow wall that from floor to ceiling was a chalkboard. And growing up, they all used it. His mother would write her grocery list on it; his dad would write info pertaining to his work on it; he and his sisters would draw on it or leave notes for each other or take phone messages… An entire chalkboard wall! I was completely fascinated.
Fast forward to me living in Wilmington, NC and working as a technical writer. I somehow managed to score a chalkboard from an old storeroom for my office. No one in the company understood my desire. Who uses chalkboards anymore?
I admit I rarely used it, but I loved it. And then when the company downsized, closing their Wilmington office and moving all work to their home base in Charlotte, my boss told me to take what I wanted – within reason of course, not the computers, printers, copiers. The Charlotte office had all they needed and so whatever the company couldn’t sell and the employees didn’t want, would be put in the dumpster.
The only thing I wanted was that chalkboard. (That and a couple of clipboards as I also have an odd, though lesser, love for them.)
Do you share my love of chalkboards? Or is there something you love that perplexes those who know you best? I’d love to hear about it!
Andrea Miles 
Hi! I’m popping in from Amanda’s Books and More. I have to use a chalkboard at the high school where I teach German twice a week and it’s a horrible task. The board resists the chalk and the two dusters / erasers don’t work… not even after being pounded clean. White boards are pretty neat, but the smell of the markers goes to my head and gives me a headache. (The classrooms don’t have them though.) I think I still prefer the white boards, because of their crisp, clean presentation and I love using different color markers.
When I first got married, I kept swooning over the stationery sets and ended up with a small collection. My husband didn’t understand my love of pretty paper and told me that I didn’t need anymore. He was right and soon e-mails replaced snail mail, so I still have about half of my stationery left. I’ve moved on to scrapbooking and all the pretty paper that goes with that. Oh, and stickers! Yes! I absolutely adore stickers!
Tina – author and mom blogger at http://abooksandmore.blogspot.com
*boards…. 🙂
I don’t share your love for chalk books. I am in to note books with unlined pages that are found in strange off the beaten path stationary stores. I have a thing for pens, too. My family doesn’t get it, nor do I bother explaining anymore. Thank goodness we’re all different.
I still have my slate chalkboard from my childhood 🙂 Can;t let it go….it’s hanging on my kitchen wall 🙂
My grandparents had a slate chalkboard in their basement. I loved it! It was the first thing I went for when I visited them. My parents later got me my own.