Everybody has one...well, at least if they're fortunate. Those who are less fortunate should be pitied because they never had an old wooden chair. Good gracious, where would the cat sleep, or how would a baby learn to pull up and walk? That would be downright sad, wouldn't it? Oh, it breaks my heart to think of it, but I must not allow myself to dwell in such a state of depression. It's just not good for you, you know? After all, we can't help it if some folks just grew up deprived. Nothing we can do to change that. Nope, nothing we can do. If you rode past a house, and there was no wooden chair on the porch, then you knew...you knew... those folks just didn't have anybody that ever loved them. I was one of the lucky ones, I guess. Don't know why I was born into such good fortune, but I still have Grandma's old wooden chair, and I can tell you all about the first time I ever laid eyes on it.
Papa and I had just finished breakfast that morning. Mama wasn't home because she and the younger kids had gone down to Merta Lee Breakwater's the day before, and it got too late to come home. Lucky for us, mama had left some biscuits on the cook stove, and we had eggs, too. Of course we had more than enough chores to do, but papa decided that we might as well waste the day, and go to grandma's. I put on a pink flowery dress because Lord only knows what grandma would have done if I had ever showed up on her front porch in overalls!! I shudder to think. Papa had to catch the pig before we could leave. If not, there would be a lot of problems when we got back. It took forever, and I wanted to help, but papa wouldn't let me get dirty. I guess mama must have put some sense in him. Anyway, it's a good thing we had an early breakfast, because we still had to hitch the wagon. Papa said I could bring the horses out of the barn. I didn't even get dirty, and he was proud of me. "Well, I'm a lady", I prissily informed him, and he chuckled at me since my dress was caught in the back of my drawers. (I had made my visit to the out house). So, we got all hitched up and took out for grandma's house. I was so excited because, well just because that's what kids do when they think about grandma. Papa said that we had to stop at Abe's house and pick up a chair for grandma. Abe made furniture for everybody in the county, and he did a good job, but he sure couldn't make a fist anymore. His hands were getting worn out from all that sawing and hammering and shaving wood. I was glad that girls didn't make furniture, because I might need to make a fist if my brother was to start teasing me.
We got to Abe's place, and he came out to meet us. On the porch, there was a brand new rocking chair, and let me tell you, it was glorious!!! I jumped right up there and plopped down in it, and it didn't even creak!! It was shiny, and new, and smelled like fresh wood. Grandma was going to be so happy!!! I rocked and rocked and rocked and rocked until papa told me to stop because I was about to wear it out before we could give it to grandma. That was o.k., because I knew that I could rock all I wanted at grandma's house!! I was so proud of papa and me that we had such a grand gift to deliver! It gave me the shivers!
Grandma didn't know that we were coming, because we hadn't sent a letter, but she was always home anyway. When we got there, I saw her out in the pea patch, so I ran as fast as I could to greet her, and tell her about the rocker before papa did. Little girls do that. "Grandma, grandma, papa's got a rocking chair in the wagon, papa's got a rocking chair in the wagon!!" "Abe made it, and he can't even make a fist, grandma!" "He can't even make a fist, but you have to see it, you have to see it!" And I pretty much dragged her to the wagon. I couldn't wait for papa to set my rocker on grandma's porch!! Of course, I didn't mean to say my rocker, because that wouldn't be polite, but I claimed it that very day, and was glad I could still make a fist in case my brother ever tried to beat me to it! I knew that grandma would spend ALL her time in that chair. Why, I supposed that she might never, ever, ever, get out of it, and we would have to bring her food.
If I had a nickel for every time that chair got rocked, I would own the world. Boy, it got a lot of use!! Grandma had lots of grand kids who cut teeth on it. Grandpa sat in it any time he could, which wasn't often, because when he got old, he couldn't make a fist. Babies got rocked in it, and pulled up on it when they got bigger. Cats slept in it, and it got used for a coat rack, a hat rack, a gun rack, and a pew for the hymnal. It held everything from shoes to shotguns. You never knew what you were going to find in it; biscuits, flowers, eggs, books, glasses, photos, curtains, matches, long johns, and socks...and one time a duck, but grandma drew the line there. That rocker did get a little "broke down" looking over the years, but I wanted it on my porch after grandma and grandpa went to Heaven. How else would folks know that I ever had somebody who loved me, and that I was richer for it?! So, grandma left it to me, and I brought it home and set it to the side on the porch. (That's how people do when they inherit an old wooden chair, they set it to the side, so everybody knows it's special.) But, I still used it, and rocked in it for years. I rocked my babies in it, and they all played in it just like I did when I was a little girl. I just wish I could have cut my own teeth on it, but that was not meant to be. I am so lucky to have it, though, and all the memories that come with it. Yesterday, I walked out on the porch to sit in the rocker, and there was a pork chop in it. My husband said he was sorry, because he had dropped it, and was just about to remove it. I thought back on all the things that I had seen in that chair, and I have to say that a pork chop was a little unexpected, but I guess anything is possible! I began to imagine what else I might ever find, and had to laugh. I looked at him and said, "Leave it there for a little while, just leave it there."
