Granny's Chair
As a child, I remember staying the night with my Granny, and every evening, I would fall asleep next to her in her bed. In the morning, I would wake up and reach over, patting the empty mattress in search of her as I slowly roused from my slumber. I don't know what I looked, because the bed was always empty, and the air was always filled with the unmistakable scent of breakfast at Granny's. A combination of bacon, eggs and coffee that to this day puts a smile on my face, just thinking about her. This was one of the chairs that sat in her kitchen.
My Granny died when I was 8. It broke my heart. My aunt moved into her home and continued to live there until just a couple of years ago. Then she and her husband decided to retire and move closer to their grandchildren. They were selling the house, and she mentioned that they were excited about getting all new furniture in their new home. Granny's would be donated.
Of all of the furniture in the house, somehow these chairs are what bothered me the most to see them go. I had sat on them so many times as a child, and to me, the memory of Granny was woven in my mind along with the wicker of these chairs.
My mother and her siblings sat in them growing up. My sister and I sat in them while we shelled pecans, ate meals and drank "coffee milk" with Granny. And a whole host of neighbors, friends and family enjoyed meals in Granny's kitchen while sitting in these chairs.
Her kitchen wasn't very big, and the large dining room table (she had 7 children after all) was situated right in the middle of it, something which I see now may have made it difficult for her to prepare meals. It may not have been much, but her kitchen was the heart of her home, and to me, these chairs were the heart of her kitchen. They may have been rickety, with the joints coming loose and nails starting to show through, but the chairs still made me feel like a child again.
I snapped this picture on the last day of our last visit to my mother's childhood home before it would be sold. At the time, I felt a little silly about it. Now I'm so glad I did.
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