When we were cleaning and sorting the guest room in preparation for our friend’s visit, Don mentioned that he’d love to find an old, comfy chair to sit in when he’s working there. The chair that was currently there was a very old chair that belonged to my grandmother. It’s a smallish rocker, definitely designed for a lady. It’s heavy and old and every time Don would sit in it up there, I could hear it squeaking and groaning every time he moved. (The guest room is right above the den and my blogging chair.)
No problem,” said I. “We’ll get rid of it. I’ve had it long enough. We’ll put it out by the street.”
When Adrian was still here, Don decided to enlist his help carrying the chair downstairs.
Don: “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
Me: “Yep. I’m sure.”
Then I took a moment to explain to Adrian that it was my grandmother’s chair, that I’d grown up with it, that there are photos of me sitting in the chair, holding my doll. I sat in it once again and mentioned that all the squeaks and groans were part of my childhood.
Questioning looks.
Don: “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
Me:: “Yes, you can take it.”
A pause with both of them looking at me intently.
Adrian: “Are you sure?”
Pause.
“No. I’m not sure.”
Adrian then said “I knew you didn’t want to get rid of it!”
So there it is. It has moved into our bedroom. It’s old, it needs to be cleaned – actually, it needs to be reupholstered, but that’s not happening.
But you know me. It’s all about the story with me. This was my grandmother’s. I’ve either been near it or owned it all of my life. When I moved away to Philadelphia to attend graduate school, I lived in studio apartments where there was a bed, my grandmother’s trunk used as a table, a dresser, bookshelves made of cinder blocks, and this chair.
It moved with me to every apartment I lived in after that. It moved with me to Boston. Then to San Diego. Then to the East Coast.
I can’t give it up.
Two other chairs re-entered the mix yesterday. Again: chairs that have a story. Chairs that have been stored in the shed for several years. I’ve missed them. I just didn’t know where to put them.
I have two of these old office chairs that were used in the Mass Mutual (Insurance) offices in Boston. I love them. They’re big and heavy and gorgeous. (Note aforementioned grandmother’s trunk in the photo.)
I bought them when I lived in my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I had very little money in those days and I found them in this wonderful old used furniture shop in Cambridge. I could only afford two of them. I didn’t have a car, so my friend and colleague Judith, who also lived in my building, loaded them into her car.
They went in my kitchen, where there was room for a table and chairs. I had a simple table made of black ash and the two chairs were on either side of the table. On the wall behind them was my collection of vintage Fiesta. I loved the contrast between the rich mahogany stain of the chairs and the black ash of the table and the splash of bright Fiesta colors in the background.
They’ve stayed with me ever since Cambridge.
I mentioned them again to Don the other day. I missed them, I said, I felt they were going to get ruined in the shed. Since we were moving my grandmother’s chair out of the office, maybe we could find a way to use them?
So Don hauled them out of the shed yesterday and I spent a few hours cleaning and polishing them.
Here’s the other chair.
By the way, I don’t stage photos very often anymore and I certainly didn’t stage these!
They even have the Mass. Mutual metal inventory tag.
I sat in one of these chairs in my kitchen in Cambridge as I learned the news that my brother had died. I can see myself there; morning light coming in the windows, the sound of cars outside and people walking down the brick sidewalks. Talking to my sister. Talking to other family members. Calling my boss at Boston University, sobbing as I told him I needed to take time off. Hearing him say, “Bless you. Bless you.”
It’s vividly etched in my memory.
I couldn’t hide these chairs away any longer.
I’m glad they’re back.
New post on Just Let Me Finish This Page today.
Happy Wednesday.
Of course you couldn’t get rid of your grandmother’s chair!
The office chairs are so handsome.
She would not have been happy to see me get rid of that chair!
Whew , that was a close one. Thank-you Adrian!
And Don!
I have the same dilemma! I have a walnut Eastlake platform rocker that belonged to my grandmother. I loved it as a child and eventually inherited it from my mother. But it doesn’t really fit in my house. I’ve thought about giving it away, but somehow just can’t. It’s so hard to let go of things that belonged to family. Just like your chair, mine has a long story. I guess that’s why I’ve held on to it for so long…. I love the Mass Mutual chairs, especially the old metal tags. The wood is really rich looking. I think your grandmother’s chair is very sweet. I’m glad Don and Adrian talked you into keeping it.
This is when I wish we had a bigger house – I wouldn’t have such a dilemma when it comes to this kind of thing!
I sat here shaking my head thinking: “Don’t do it, Claudia! Don’t do it!! Good job, Don & Adrian!”
Sometimes we need that little whisper in our ear.
The two office chairs are just wonderful! Think of all the meetings (ugh) they went through, and all the people who sat on them or just saw them in a room somewhere….those are the things of which stories are made!! Also the memories you have of your Grandmother’s chair… I know people say you will still, of course, have those memories, but the curve of the arm, the sound of the creak when it rocks, those are all important, too. If we can keep those few things in our possession, along with the memories, it can be a comfort as well.
Hope you have a good day!
It will hold throw pillows from the bed, extra quilts, etc. And occasionally, I’ll just sit there and rock.
Beautiful chairs…rich in your history! You made a wise choice. I regret to this day, when I allowed 2 different chairs to be taken to the curb so to speak.
Now…go enjoy your chairs! ;)
I will. I bet every one of us has let go of something or other that we regret. I sure have!
Claudia, I have my Grandmother’s chair too! It’s an old wicker arm chair in which she used to sit every afternoon after she finished her chores. She’d position it at the back door just so her legs from knees down got the sun. My brothers and I used to run into and out of her flat (she lived upstairs, my family lived down), and I can still hear her slap her legs and laugh at our antics. Never a harsh or unkind word from her. I miss her a lot. She only spoke Cantonese, and after she died, I would have dreams of conversing with her in Cantonese.
I love your office chairs! They don’t make them like that anymore. When I was working, I went through three moves with the organization, carting my wood desk, wood bookcases with doors and wood conference table and chairs to every new office. Then for the last move, I had to leave all that beautiful furniture behind. I spent my last 8 years at work with cubicle furniture. I had a private office, but outfitted with ugly dark gray metal cubicle fixtures. Yech… Hang on to those beauties!
That chair sounds like it holds amazing memories for you. Can you still converse in Cantonese, Wendy?
You’re right about the office chairs. There’s no office furniture with this kind of heft and substance, is there. As someone who has worked in cubicles, I know they can’t hold a candle to solid, vintage office furniture.
Unfortunately, I am not fluent. I can hold simple conversations and understand many of what is said to me, but can’t read or write in Cantonese.. My parents are bi-lingual, but they never forced my sibs and me to speak in Cantonese. They’d speak to us in Cantonese and we’d respond in English. My maternal grandmother, and my paternal grandparents and great-grandmother were the only persons to whom I spoke exclusively in Cantonese.
Good save! I was holding my breath.
The insurance office chair is perfect for Don. A manly chair for a manly man.
We’re still going to look for a cushier chair, and if we find one, I’ll move one of these chairs to another place in the cottage.
while i was reading this post, i kept thinking, “oh, i hope she keeps her grandmother’s chair!!!” i am happy for you that you did indeed keep that very special, cannot-be-replaced chair. :)
i also was physically tense reading your story … because i let something (bedroom dresser) from my childhood go and i regret it very, very much. (sob) on a happier note, i am so pleased and grateful that, in addition to countless happy memories, i have several other items from my family that bring me comfort and i enjoy seeing/using every day – among them a grandmother’s coffee pot, a settee and end table that belonged to my other grandparents, a sofa from my parents and signs for both my grandfathers’ businesses. :)
also, many years ago at an antiques sale i bought a very old glass-front cupboard that hung on the outside wall of the rental office for cabins by a lake; it was used to hold messages for guests staying there. painted on that cupboard is the name of the lake (among other things) and the back inside is filled with little nail holes from messages left for those guests at the lake. cool enough on its own, but that lake bears my last name … and it’s the place one set of my grandparents honeymooned not long after they moved to america!!! :)
never ever letting those things go (except to other family members)! :)
thanks for what you share. happy days to all!
kathy
I’ve let a few things go – one was a gorgeous rustic wooden table – that I regret to this day.
That cupboard sounds incredible! And with all its associations for you, it’s priceless.
yep … that cupboard and those memories are priceless! the cupboard holds all my bath towels (appropriate, i think, considering its original use at a lake – and after much cleaning). above it is a great old b&w photo of my grandmother and great-aunt in a lake. :) wish it could fit in my dinky bathroom, but there’s just not enough space there, so it is in my living room. i’ve received a couple of *those* looks for its placement (not from my family or close friends, of course), but i don’t care … i am so tickled to have that piece!
i hope everyone, including people who don’t consider themselves to be sentimental or a collector, thinks hard before getting rid of family furniture and other irreplaceable items. i know God, people and animals are vastly more important than furniture, art and other “things”, but i’d hate anyone to feel regret for giving away an irreplaceable family item that they later wished they’d kept.
signed … a very sentimental and sometimes regrettably-impulsive person!
Heck, even I knew you couldn’t get rid of your grandmother’s chair. The wooden chairs are really lovely. And since they also have stories to tell, I’m glad you found use for them. Happy Fall!
I can’t tell you how close I was! Truly. I was ready to purge. If they had taken it down to the street, I would have probably run out there and grabbed it once I was thinking clearly.
heh I think my mouth was agape as I read the first part of your blog…. Claudia getting rid of a chair with that rich history? Is this a joke ??
Then I read on and breathed out…. you have such an amazing collection of memories I just couldn’t believe you would put some of them at the curb. Not Claudia :)
Then I looked across my living room and realied the chair I have that was my late father in laws drs office chair is exactly like the two you showed right down to the shape of the arms. I love its history. He was still doing house calls in his late seventies.. Loved his profession
Have a great day Claudia, Don and Scout
I wonder if it’s made by B.L. Marble, Sue? I’m researching that company and I’m going to try to date the chairs.
I was so relieved to hear that you kept your grandmother’s chair. I knew you would have regretted it had you given it away. And those office chairs are wonderful. That type of chair is solid and comfortable, timeless and perfect for a man. It all worked out beautifully!
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
It did. I’m so happy to have those two chair back in the house again.
If I wasn’t clear I mean its like the two wooden ones Don brought in the house
xo
Shocking!! At first, I couldn’t believe I heard you say “Yep, I’m sure…” about moving your Grandma’s chair to the curb. I thought somehow your evil twin had taken over & was running things. What have you done with the REAL Claudia, Evil Twin? Then all was well again when you told the guys not to take it out. Crisis averted. Huge gasp of relief. Those chairs from Mass Mutual are especially gorgeous – I honesty covet them. They’d look great in my dining room. Made of real solid strong wood, and by a craftsman – not a machine. In another 100 years, they’re going to fetch a lot of oohs and aahs – and a hefty price – on the Antiques Roadshow. Happy First Day of Fall! ? ?
I love them. I’d use them in the kitchen but with the arms, they take up too much room there.
I’m glad you kept your grandmother’s chair…a treasure.
I’m glad, too, Linda!
There are perhaps two pieces of furniture that carry a family’s history: a bed and a chair. What stories they keep secret until someone tells the story. All while I was reading this, I kept saying to myself “Oh you can’t get get rid of your grandmother’s chair. Oh you can’t,” and you didn’t. I am glad. I bet you are too. I’d leave it as it is. Cleaned perhaps. Both chairs are now in places of honor in your home. I loved the way wrote about them.
Thank you, Ann. You’re so right. This chair could tell so many stories. I always loved it, even when I was a child. It HAS to stay with us!
I love Grandma’s chair..just the type I would like to find for my little reading corner..Love the old fabric on it too…Thanks Don & Adrian for seeing inside a woman’s heart and knowing that it would have been a big mistake..The office chairs are so nice…Good luck on researching them…
I have the info and now I have to contact the historical society in the town where they were manufactured!
I gave my eldest daughter my grandparents old rocking chair about 12 years ago. I was given the chair around 1963, when it was getting to be about 70 or 75 years old. Granddad cleaned it up and tightened it so there was no squeak. I sat and rocked in the chair every day until I got the squeak back.
All three of my babies were rocked in that chair, I was rocked in the chair as well as my sister and cousins. Mother was rocked in the rocker and so was granddad. When our grandbabies were born, each was rocked in the old chair. It sits in my daughter’s bedroom, waiting for our great grandbabies. We all know the story of the chair and hope it stays with the family a long time.
That is a priceless chair, Pat. Obviously, you all know and honor its history in your family.
Aren’t you lucky to have such warm memories attached to your beautiful chairs! It is a precious connection to loving family and days gone by. When we cleared out my mother’s house 21 years ago, we let several items go because we had no room in our house. To this day I regret that. We should have made room. I understand completely. I love your grandmother’s chair. Thanks to Don and Adrian.
There was a floor lamp that my grandmother had, the old fashioned kind, with brass and pink glass and a wonderful pink pleated shade. I loved that lamp. When she was selling her house to move into my parents’ home, I should have taken it, but I didn’t. I regret that to this day. I’ve never seen one like it.
OMG, a near-disaster; you couldn’t have gotten rid of your grandmother’s chair, Claudia! I’ve done things like that and regretted it the rest of my life. It’s my problem but also my comfort: I, too, hang onto things with the memories and the stories which is a whole lot about why I gave up a much-nicer house to come live in my parents’ house (my childhood home) after they died. If nothing or nobody else in this world ‘knew me,’ this house did, which I’m sure makes no sense. I clung to it and, believe me, there’s nothing architecturally special about it at all. My husband is a minimalist with a different perspective on sentimentality so it’s a problem we’ve had for our 20-something years together…he just does not understand my attachment to material objects although I try to explain it’s about the memories they evoke, and I hang onto my memories like jewels. He’s remodeling and removed the bathroom doorknob and I went nuts, so I perhaps take things a bit too far. It’s a special doorknob with a key; please! The key was always placed high on the top of the door frame, so it was always an intriguing thing to me as a kid. He wants to trade out the big ‘ol pink bathtub from the mid-50s and I said NO WAY; it’s retro! I was bathed in that tub from the time I could toddle. When we painted the exterior of the house this year, I tried to match the paint color as closely as I could to the color the home was painted when I was growing up, which was its original color…and, you know, it looks darn good, thank you very much. I have an aunt’s furniture from the 40s; I still have my original bedroom furniture from the 1960s (again, childhood); I have my grandmother’s Singer sewing machine from the 1930s where my 7-year-old dad etched his name on the metal back of it; I have another aunt’s child-sized cedar chest from 1905; I have my other grandmother’s upright piano from about 1908; I have the oil can my granddad would lubricate Mom’s roller skates with in the 1920s; I still have the secondhand love seat I bought when I first moved away from home in the 1970s (first apartment); I have one of the first pieces of furniture my folks bought when they got married shortly after the end of World War II and were ‘broke’ newlyweds once Dad got home from service, which is a bookcase. I still have the first car I ever bought when I was a teenager and now I’m pretty much at retired age. I know what you mean…the stories, the stories; can’t let them go. I have to be surrounded by meaningful things and that includes objects, photos, mementoes. I no longer make apologies for it but I definitely AM trying to declutter with other stuff; for instance, ‘way too much Christmas decor to the point, and this is significant, of not wanting to even haul the stuff out to decorate. But the house being small is forcing me to choose wisely and that’s not a bad thing.
Makes sense to me, Vicki. I have to be surrounded by meaningful things as well. It’s as you said, the memories, the feelings they evoke that make each piece special. Don’t make apologies. What you appreciate about all those things is what makes you a compassionate, special person.
Love the pink bathtub! I wish I had one. And I love your phrase, “I hang onto my memories like jewels.”
Well, thanks, Claudia. I had sensed a kindred spirit in you when I first ventured into your blog and, of course, now I know.
I had meant to say something about those two chairs of yours. As is so often the case, if the house or clothes or car or furniture has lived with you long enough, there may be a mix of bad and good memories but, then, such is the stuff of life. I lost my own brother when he was barely out of his 20s and I’m gazing over as I type this at ‘his’ chair right where he always sat when we were kids (and it’s also the same kitchen table; guess you could say we’re stuck in a rut around here!!). Enough time has passed that it doesn’t make me sad to not see him in that chair, although I will miss him til my last breath. What I find myself doing is grinning. The old chair had a chunk gouged out of it in the 70s. It’s where he’d grabbed hold of it when he was passing out, I guess when he was about age 17 or so. I tend to confuse this with a time when he’d cut his hand doing something out in the yard (we had a few of these ‘events’) but I’m pretty sure this specific circumstance was when Mom had nipped her finger when pruning the rose bushes, came in to run it under some water at the kitchen sink, my brother took one look at it as he began to sit down to eat his lunch (you know where this is going…he’d faint at the sight of blood) and down he went on top of the chair. He was a BIG guy, ‘way over 6-ft tall and we could understand the rungs askew on the chair back, but we never COULD figure out exactly how a whole chunk just broke off the top. Mom took the chair to a furniture repairer and they did what they could with it, but the color was never quite the same on that section of wood. I shouldn’t grin at the memory of his misfortune when the light catches that newer piece but, truth is, oh gosh I teased my brother mercilessly…so cliche to faint at the sight of blood. What can I say, kids can be mean! Into his adulthood, though, he’d shake his head ruefully over the fainting and chuckle over it, too. He’d still get queasy but he was able to overcome the fainting as he matured.
I agree with a lot of people that closure is only a word…you don’t really get over a death; you just learn to live with it. Fortunately, though, we have that thing called TIME which helps us to do just that. I’m so glad you can enjoy your two chairs again and add in some new memories! Just pile ’em on, the more memories the merrier!
I’m glad your chairs are back!! You need special things like that in your life! xx
Thank you, Amy!
I am so glad you kept the chair!!! Had me worried there for a bit. You’ll be glad to know (especially if you visit!) that the cottage end tables that were Grandma Hill’s are in the bedroom and her chair is in the new room. Great Grandma Hill’s rockers are in the living room, They are not, I’m sure, a decorator’s choice but I love them.
We won chairs similar to yours at an auction but now they live with Dave and family. Your dresser, that is in the background, looks like Uncle Glenn’s (Grandma Hill’s?) now lives with Lisa. I have one piece that belongs to my Grandma Jordan that lives in the new room. I know these things are inanimate but in my heart they have memories. Come visit!!!!
Eileen
I love reading this, Eileen! I remember the end tables vividly and the rockers were always favorites of mine. That dresser of ours is Don’s – we got it in San Diego – but now I’m remembering Uncle Glenn’s dresser…I didn’t see it very often, but I remember it.
We really want to visit – hopefully next spring or summer. I miss you!
I am so glad you didn’t get rid of your Grandmothers chair and I love the wood chairs. Glad they have all found a new place in your home.
hugs,
Linda
Me too, Linda!
I love all 3 of your chairs. Would you believe I worked for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company in Oklahoma City.
Small world, Claudia!
For heaven’s sake, they’re part of the family! And their souls are singing this morning at the love you’ve given them in the past few days. Let them embrace you anew.
Beautiful! Thank you, Dana!
Save the chair for me and I will take it, you can’t give up Grandma’s chair. It was such a big part of our childhood. I am glad you came to your senses but in reality I don’t think you would have given it up, it was just in the way for a bit.
Hugs,
M
Yes, I guess so. But I may give it to you someday since you have a lot more space than I have! As long as it stays in the family, that’s what counts.
Hi Claudia! Do NOT reupholster…. my sister-in-law spearheaded (ostensibly for my mom’s birthday) the reupholstering of an antique walnut rocker, long in my family, but only the tufted back. The worn brocade seat remains. Ichhhh. My dear Mom wants me to have the chair. I do not want a chair to corrode relationship whether it had the original, wonderful story telling frayed and worn covering or this vile garment it now wears. Keep the treasures of age. Love, b
I won’t reupholster, Betsy! I promise!