The Big Chair

Hey there,

Well...The Big Chair has been replaced.

Many people are familiar with The Big Chair.

For those of you who are not and would like to familiarize yourself with it you can read my book :-).

The Big Chair is an over sized fluffy chair with an ottoman on wheels that Bob came home with about 10 years ago. I can still see him carrying it up the stairs to the guest room in our old house and I can still see my sister, Anne, and I carrying it down the stairs to the living room so Bob could sit in it after he could no longer manage the stairs.

The chair has had many purposes over the years and is well loved by all who sit in it. Currently The Big Chair has been inhabiting the honored corner spot of our sun room and not a day passes without someone curled up or sprawled out in it reading.

The Big Chair is not aging well.

It won't come clean and it's fluffiness has become less fluffy. The dog chewed the ottoman and the cats ruined the arms and, frankly, I am growing weary of yelling at the boys about using the ottoman as an indoor scooter. (shouldn't they have grown out of that by now?) Plus, with the ever increasing animal population around here I am forever working at keeping the house smelling fresh and inviting and not like two cats, one dog and two gerbils live here.

It was time for a new chair.

But it's The Big Chair.

I thought it might just be me. This would not be the first time I have held on to something for sentimental reasons and then I can't remember what the sentimental reason was. Or I save something for the boys and then the boys don't recognize the significance of the item. But when I told Henry the plan to replace The Big Chair his eyes started to water immediately and his face took on a strained look.

"But The Big Chair brings back so many memories," he told me. His bottom lip was literally quivering.

Then my eyes started to water and I felt a tug to my heart.

Shit, we can't get rid of The Big Chair.

But we really needed to get something new for the sun room, really, I knew that intellectually.

All three boys came with us shopping and we chose an awesome leather love seat that reclines! The boys loved it at the store. But last night when we started moving The Big Chair to make room for the new love seat that was being delivered today Henry panicked. And then I did too. I started frantically taking measurements under Henry's loft in the boys room.

We could do it, it would be tight, but we could do it.

The Big Chair could fit under the loft if we removed the desk and moved the book shelf. Who needs a desk anyway? It isn't as if the boys ever studied at it. In fact the desk is only used to store all their junk. But getting The Big Chair into the room was going to be another story.(please keep in mind we have three boys in a 10x11room)

It is a Big Chair after all.

I went to talk to Mike about the move. He looked at me with some trepidation and went to the room and began to take his own measurements.

"I know it doesn't make practical or physical sense to remove a desk and make room for this enormous chair in this tiny room, " I told him as he quietly surveyed the room.

He sat down next to me on the bed, a little sigh escaping as he breathed out. I knew he was having a rough week at work.

"...but if we can make this work," I continued, "it would be the best thing emotionally for Henry and me right now." Unexpected tears sprung to my eyes and I choked on the last words a bit.

Mike looked at me, stood up, and started packing up the junk on top of the desk to make the move happen.

It was an event.

The boys were up past their bedtime helping move pillows and remove doors and get gerbil cages out of the way.

We did it! It made it. The Big Chair lives on for now. Perhaps in a few years Henry and I won't remember why we needed to keep that big chair.

I doubt it.

But perhaps.

Today is Mike and my 4th anniversary and Mike could not have given me a better present than to go through the effort of moving that big chair into the boys room last night. The move was impractical and a pain in the butt and a lot of work we didn't need last night but Mike understood what it meant to me to keep that big chair for now and he was willing to honor that no questions asked.

As I watched him strategize and execute getting that big chair into that tight space I don't think I have ever loved him more.

Thanks for checking in-

Irene