What Good is an Old Rocking Chair?

One of my friends salvaged an old table from the dumpster near their apartment the other day, painted it and turned it back into a useful piece of furniture. Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind a memory surfaced; a short video made in French speaking Canada about the life of a rocking chair.

The artwork presentation was done in pastels which danced in unison to traditional French Quebec folk songs portraying a story of how a simple rocking chair came to be made and enjoyed through its lifetime. The rocking chair served its young mother as she rocked her baby to sleep, then acted as a make believe boat for her young boy as he pretended to fish from it. Eventually the used up rocking chair ended up in a junk pile; but was spotted as worth salvaging where upon its usefulness sprang back to life.

I was unable to find a sharable Youtube type video of The Rocking Chair ; but the fifteen minute award winning production can be purchased along with many other useful computer related items for those interested in French Canadian Folk art. The photographs supplied are from the original video.

We grew up with an old Hitchcock Rocking Chair, classic black enamel with a simple design painted as accents with a touch of gold leaf. That rocking chair eventually was enjoyed by my own children when they’d visit my folks. My oldest daughter would sit on her grandpa’s lap while a story was told; a distracted version since lines of the tale would be woven in between downs with the Sunday afternoon football game filling in the plot.

One afternoon while the bonding of generations was being played out that old rocking chair gave up the ghost, so to speak. The wood had become dry and brittle; it had nothing to do with my father being a few pounds over weight, nothing. One moment the two were rocking and then there was a moment of excitement, loud snapping and popping sounds followed by a crash to the floor. That was a sad moment as we realized how far gone the rocking chair was; no reasonable way to repair it.

A few years went by and I found a similar looking rocking chair to replace the original, a special Christmas present. There’s something about a rocking chair that slows time down into chunks which are more easily swallowed. The world may still be teetering on disaster; but as long as the rocking chair wraps its protective field around you, those frightening moments can wait a bit longer.