a tribute to a chair

Have a seat — but not for long — and lemme tell you that I’m in love.

With a chair.

This morning I’m at the Goodwill in search of an item. It’s not there so on the way out I detour past the furniture section. Big mistake.

I’m brought to a halt by:

For years – no exaggeration – I’ve been looking for a rocker. Looking for a rocker and at rockers and oh the variety!

Many today are padded gliders. They’re modern, uncomfortable and a whole other experience. Not the same.

I’ve sat in rockers in thrift stores and antique stores and department stores and others’ homes. They’ve ranged in quality from crap to craftsmanship and from cold to cozy.

The feel is intrinsic to a rocker, individual and intimate. The Way of the Rock is all. I’ve sat in some that are so heavy in the front lean such that I’m practically thrown forward. Others have no forward lean but instead a heavy rear one. So there’s no sway. You might as well be sitting in a regular chair.

Then there’s the quality of the wood and the craftsmanship; I’ve exceptional instincts for both. And then the particulars about the chair, like the size of its seat, the back, the arms in both height and width and their alignment with your body.

This rocker, I’m sorry to say, was perfect. The seat is small and perfectly countoured.

The back slats are striking in their height, curved just right and supportive:

The arms — those are where the real stories of a rocker lie. These feel solid and worn in all the right ways. I can tell a lot about a piece of furniture and its previous owners by sitting in it, touching it. This rocker has a loving and soft vibe; be she a mother or a grandmother, someone experienced great pleasure in her rocker.

When I sat and began rocking, I didn’t want to get up and out. The entire world calmed. The rock is in perfect flow from front to rear, soothing and cradlelike.

But after numerous false starts, get up and go I did because:

And I parted from its company sadly.

There is hardship in poverty and unemployment. There is sadness is walking away from that which makes the heart sing.

Yes, I fell in love today with a chair. And I hope that it is very soon sold to an appreciative person for one simple reason: ‘Tis better to be thirsting for water in the desert than to meet the man selling water in bottles without a coin in your pocket.

If there’s a moral in today’s tale, it is that.

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