Family belongings are a tricky thing.  The things in your own house are picked out somewhere along the line.  Unless you are super rich, whatever is in your home is probably a compromise of sorts.  You never can afford to buy what you really love.  So expecting your family to want your cast-off, old things is a little bit of stretch as well.

Moving my mom this last week, we had a few items left to place.  In those items were two wing-back chairs.  These chairs show up in pictures of me as a baby.  I remember them in our home in Chicago.  Then they came to Denver with my mom and dad in 1974. they have been slip-covered and re-stuffed but they have always been a part of my family’s home.

I asked Amber what of my mom’s remaining things she might want.  She and her husband Ryan had inherited several items when mom first moved out of her condo.  I did not want to impose mom’s furniture stylings on their home.  A lot of the furniture (although good quality wood) was European styled and not what the young professionals are looking for in furnishing their home.  Amber asked if I would be insulted if they did not use or keep all the furniture.  Certainly not, I replied.  But the chairs are different.

While I do not remember curling up on my dad’s lap in the wing-back  chairs, I know I did.  I have pictures.  But I do remember countless times, folding my legs under me and reading while sitting in these chairs.  I remember them flanking the big fireplaces in both Chicago and Denver. Snowstorms rattled the rafters, but I sat safely in the chair.  Guests, so often in our home, gravitated towards the comfortable chairs. 

My parents never owned recliners, just the wing-backs with foot stools.  It worked for them.  The chairs were in the heart of our home.  We discussed school issues, read and watched tv.  They were always the first place I sat when I came “home”.

I am glad Amber wanted the chairs and I hope they serve a like purpose for her family. The chairs are home for me and I hope they will be for her family as well.