Do you have a favorite chair? For fifty years, my blue chair has been mine. I call it ‘the blue chair’ because it is currently upholstered in a dark blue fabric. Each time we’ve moved I’ve had it reupholstered to fit the décor because it cradles my body in comfort.
Recently my son-in-law persuaded me to come to the Furniture Warehouse clearance sale on recliners. Wow! They have heating pads, vibrators, motorized foot rests and what all. I reluctantly walked among them and sat in a few. Even on sale they stretched my budget uncomfortably and besides I have way too much stuff in the condo already.
Back in a corner was a big old fashioned hand operated recliner upholstered in black leather. I sat in it. It was big. Amazing! I could get out of it without struggling with my arthritic bones. I could stand right up. On a whim I bought it.
My son-in-law and his buddy wrestled this huge chair into the condo. They moved furniture and got me all settled in. Yes, I could get out of it without undo pain. But it felt strange. I looked across the room with yearning at my empty blue chair.
Then Pixie came to visit. He’s twelve and growing up, but it’s easy to fall into the routines we had when I’d pick him up from school and sit with him on a regular basis.
He called his friend on my cell phone. He then sat on the arm of the big black chair to tell me about it. His Cerebral Palsy kicked in. His mind knew what he wanted to say. The diseased connections between his mind and his tongue absolutely stopped him. He tried over and over to get the word he wanted out of his mouth. This is always painful to watch.
He slid in next to me in the big chair. We cuddled a bit. I raised the foot rest. And then it happened!
Pixie shifted a bit to get more comfortable and discovered you could knock down the foot rest by kicking it just so.
He invented a game of ‘slap down the foot rest’. It was so silly I couldn’t possibly put it into words.
I can describe the cheerful giggles, the shared laughter and the glee that wiped out the pain of his stuck word.
And the strangeness of my big black chair. Now that it has survived Pixie’s exuberant game and been baptized with his glee, I shouldn’t wonder if it becomes my new favorite chair.
