The Green Chair No More

Twenty three years ago last month Russ and I moved to our house in Durham. As is often the case with movers the truck bringing our stuff took a few days longer than promised. Why this happens I will never know, but it made me very nervous wondering if all our worldly possessions would ever show up.
To keep my mind from wandering to ugly places in our empty house Russ took me to Home Depot to purchase a few things we needed as new homeowners. I made two purchases on that day that I still have, one was a dhurrie rug that went into my office and the other is a wooden rocking chair for our front porch. The rocking chair was a very good idea on Russ’ part because we also got some green paint and I whiled away the time waiting for the moving van painting the chair. 
The rug is still in my office and the green chair has never left the front porch. Over the years I used the green chair as a place to leave packages for people, a rocker to feed my new baby in, as a place to sit when I watched Shay run around the front yard and as one of the only places I get good cell reception on all of my cell phones through the years. The paint held up fairly well considering the age, but of course it started to fade, flake and look just down right shabby without the chic.
In my dwindling time with Carter home I have left this week relatively empty of commitments so I was available to help her get ready. Of course she doesn’t need me to get ready and she also has wanted to go say good bye to friends who are still here. So I decided it was finally the day to redo the green chair. First thing I did was find Russ’ palm sander and sand off all the lose paint. I ended up with a distressed looking chair that looked nice, but Carter said I should go ahead and paint it.
Seemed like a good time for a new color so I spent the afternoon turning the green chair into the blue chair. It will have to spend the night in the garage to fully dry, but it is a start of the new era. Next time you have to come to my house and leave me a book, I will need to remember to say, “Please, leave it on the blue chair.” The “green chair” has been such a constant, but a new chapter is about to begin.