My grandmother had a rocking chair. I have memories of sitting in it as a little girl. It probably is the cause of my rocking chair addiction now. I can hardly walk by a rocking chair without plopping down for a spell.
After the rocking chair spent years and years at my grandmother’s home, it spent its next life at my mother’s house when my boys were little. Such pictures in my head of my mom rocking my boys when they were babies.
But now I have the chair.
The rocking chair isn’t set in any special place of honor in my house. It’s stuck in the corner of my office amid yoga mats, old manuscripts and colored pencils. Which is right where it belongs. Beckoning my boys to drop into it and sit and chat with me as they buzz in and out of town, in and out of my life. Filling me in on details. Telling me secrets. Sharing simple moments of their lives. SuperGuy comes in with his coffee in the morning and slides into the rocking chair and we chat as he slowly rocks back and forth, easing into the day.
The afghan my grandmother crocheted for me when I was a young girl rests on the back of the chair.
Doesn’t it just call out to be wrapped around your shoulders on a crisp fall morning?
Think of all the love and time that went into each of those stitches. :love: I can still pictured her weathered hands, hovering over her needlework, her knitting, her crocheting. When I sat down to write this post, I thought this post was about the rocking chair, but maybe it’s about the afghan, or maybe it’s about the memories, old and new. Maybe it’s about my boys remembering this rocking chair sitting in my office, a safe place to sit down and talk to their mom.
So if you could now have just one item from your childhoood, what would it be? Do you have it?
Wonderful story, Kacey. I don’t have anything from my childhood because we were military, always moving and always getting rid of stuff. But my mom still kept my old Barbie dolls and my daughter played with them the other day. 😀
Wonderfully written post, Kacey. I like that the first photo was a bit vintage-looking and then everything brightened up. The afghan is lovely, too. Good one!
I just don’t remember anything I would have wanted as a child. Neither of my grandmothers were the lovey-cuddly types, and my memories of them aren’t exactly fond. When my sisters and I were clearing out my parents’ home in Florida and packing them for their move to California, they were remarking all the time on things they wanted or remembered. But not me. Sorry, but I can’t think of a thing.
One of my grandmothers had (and used daily) an old crank-style coffee mill. I always loved it and wanted it, but unfortunately it was lost in a house fire. 🙁
I still have a teddy bear from my first Christmas (I was 9 days old). Sparky has it in her room.
I have my wished-for item. My grandmother’s apple cookie jar. I had to fight my sister for it when our mother died, but it turned out all she was interested in were the many pounds of coins mom collected that were inside it! The jar itself held many memories for me. So, I got the jar. Sis got the coins. We’re both happy1
I would love to have my Granny’s lap. It is not a thing but a place. It was the most secure place in the world. There was no other place on earth that I felt so at home and peace. My Granny was my best friend and I miss her every day. All the little things really do not matter.
I am not sure where my Photo for the contest posted? I posted it under the contact page.
We have an old bed that belonged to my grandmother as a bride. I slept in it as a girl, and my daughter went straight from her crib and in to this antique four poster! It is a family treasure. I love your rocker…
Ahhh, yes, a thing of beauty! I have what I want…my grandmother’s rolling pin and my great-grandmother’s quilts she hand stitched and hand quilted. She made them for each of her 13 children when they were married. I now have 3 of the 13! :love:
That’s so sweet that you have the chair. 🙂 I’d have my grandmother’s bookends. She’s promised me a pair. They’re petrified wood and remind me of the summers we spent in Santa Fe when I was a kid. I’d also love one of my grandfather’s bolo’s. He’s gone now and I think of him any time I see a man wearing a bolo. 🙂
What a beautiful post! It brought back memories of the times I spent with my own grandmother. (I have quite a few family treasures. My great grandmothers hope chest, my grandmothers rings, ceramics that my arthritic grandmother made. The only thing I don’t have that I wish I did is anything my grandfather made. His hobby was wood working. Their home was filled with wooden painted ducks and rabbits and tables. I really wish I had something his two hands created.)
My youthful energy. No, I do not have it.
Lovely, Kacey. I’m a rocking chair lover, too, but didn’t get custody of a single one of my six in the divorce. They can bring back such memories. I miss them. I’m with Maybelline, in that I’d like that youthful energy back. More so, I’d like my flexibility back! Where’s that darn yoga book…
That is a beautiful story.
my great-grandmother loved her cup of tea in the morning and whenever I was over to visit, she stirred it with this thick and heavy spoon. I always envisioned that spoon stirring memories that she would later tell me. When she passed away, my only request was that spoon which I now use to stir my tea.
What a lovely story, Kacey!
I wish I still had my Lincoln Logs. The wooden kind! I can’t believe they make them out of plastic now. Heathens! *g*
What a lovely post! When I was little, my mother had a rocking chair. She’d sit me in her lap every day and rock while she either read to me or sang to me.
What wonderful memories, Kacey! My grandmother gave me her green necklace that I just adored when I was young. I was sure it was worth hundreds and hundreds of $$$ (Nope, not at all) and that it had magical powers. I was so very touched when she handed it to me one day. The memories it conjures up by just holding are simply wonderful.
Thanks for getting me to remember that!
I don’t know what I love more, the rocking chair or the afghan! Can I have both? Oh, you meant something from OUR childhood…. But I like YOUR stuff!
Oh – I love this post Kacey! I have a quilt my one grandmother made for me and an afghan the other one made. I’m a saver. 😀
Kacey, this is off-topic, but do you have any idea what’s going on with Christine at the Hogue Chronicle? I check her site all the time. She last posted on 6/13. I’ve sent her e-mails but never get an answer. I don’t know who else to ask.
Kate
I do have something my grandmother made for me – a Raggety Andy. I also have her old Singer sewing machine. But I would still like my youthful energy.
I have a rocking chair from my husband’s family. And this lovely post you’ve written has inspired me to write about that rocker on my blog. Thanks for a lovely post/pictures, and an inspiration! :coffee: (This little guy doesn’t particularly apply, I just wanted to use one of those cute little options you give!)