The Chair

It has quite a history.


It first came into our family almost 8 years ago.


The first two years of our marriage we lived in an itty-bitty house with an itty-bitty living room, and still managed to have room for two chairs and a loveseat.


By the time our second anniversary rolled around, the loveseat was gone and we were living in an apartment with a generous living area and 'only' two chairs to sit in.


Around this time, during an innocent trip to the mall (why were we in a mall in the first place?) we spotted the popason chair and one of us thought it was just. the. thing. that we had to have.  And even though the other of us thought the chair was Too Much Money and advised against the purchase, the chair indeed did come home to live with us.


It was a very unique piece of furniture to have.  And it was fun for cuddling up together to watch tv.  But it wasn't so great for guests... a little too casual and loungy and more than a little cumbersome to get out of.


And then one of us got pregnant.  And the chair was great for those early days of morning sickness.  But the pregnant one grew.  And grew.  And - speaking of cumbersome - The Chair wasn't so much fun anymore.


So in came our first *real* sofa set!  Two pieces!  Five cushions!  For a great price at an estate sale.  But still... we kept The Chair.  Because we had the room.  And it was fun, right?


But then came another move, and there just wasn't room for The Chair.  So we stuck a price tag on it (too high, I'm sure) and put it out in a yard sale, feeling the whole time we hadn't at all gotten our money's worth out of it, seeing as how it cost Too Much Money to begin with anyway.


Surprise, surprise: our humongous, overpriced, hard-to-get-in-and-out-of chair didn't sell.


And instead of hauling it off to Goodwill, we finagled space for it in my parents garage.  Where it sat for 5 years.


And then we had this little two-places-to-live-at-one-time arrangement that started in 2008.  And guess what?  The Chair turned out to really be just. the. thing. when we needed a little extra furniture.


Oh how wonderful it was for Daddy and his two boys to all pile up together in The Chair and read a book.  That just doesn't work quite the same in a regular chair.  Or even a sofa.

So never mind that The Chair is huge.  And travels across the floor.  And the cushion crawls and sags.  And the 'bowl' part slips around and has to be repositioned every couple of days.  Even with all those downfalls, The Chair is still great fun.  


And after using it for nearly two years in our unique little rental situation, I think we can finally say we got our money's worth out of it.  


So when the time came to empty out the rental, return the borrowed furniture and move all our stuff home, it was really, finally time to say goodbye to The Chair.


It's *real* replacement sofa set had already come and gone a few years before.  Our current living room held a Daddy recliner, a Mama rocking chair, and a worn little traditional loveseat for seating company or stretching out.  There was no place for The (huge) Chair.


So along with some other Stuff to Get Rid Of, Daddy loaded The Chair onto his trailer and we prepared to bid it a final goodbye.


But one little boy looked out the window.  And when he saw The Chair strapped onto the trailer, tears sprang to his eyes.  His voice broke as he asked incredulously, "We're getting rid of the popason???"


I think all that was missing from that point was the slow motion and the sappy music, as The Chair was rescued, and the raggedy old loveseat took its place to be hauled away.


Someday, Chair, your time will come.  But for now, we don't regret keeping you.  Not one little bit.