May 1, 2018
The test for old chairs is in the sitting, and this one more than passes, happily. It’s an online auction chair, old and formal-ish in the picture that prompted me, upholstered outrageously – in cream and white. It looked comfortable in the photo, but this could have been wishful thinking.
Old White and formal-ish comes with a history I can only invent. I find myself doing so in collaboration – my back against hers, my body held softly but with just enough firmness, my lap at just the right height with feet on footstool.
It becomes the chair I write from in the mornings. The chair claimed first by my visiting daughter. The chair that lends lightness to the room, drinks in sunlight.
This chair beckons, but does not compel.
Old white was intended for the cabin, where comfortable things are welcome, though curiously it seems to want to stay here, in town. I sit in its welcome, listeningly, and feel happiness.
Outside the window is springtime. Conversational starlings and squirrels (both black and red), a carpet of scilla on the tiny back yard, humming with bees.
Yes, that’s what it is. A simple, welcome, peaceful happiness.