Chairs, TVs, and "Back Doors"

James bought a chair. He thought it was his. When I first saw it I wondered why it was here at all. But within the hour it had become mine. It took a complete 24 hours of badgering, but in the end James has finally relinquished it and I think it officially belongs to me now. All of the kids agree that—while I am not an old lady yet—it looks very much like an old lady chair and suits me much better than their Dad. And it FITS me better. It’s too little for him, but just right for me. It’s not particularly pretty (thus the, “Uh-oh… why did you bring this home?” thing going on in my head as I outwardly said, “Wow, it’s in really good shape”—ha!), but the color works and it didn’t take long for even the style to grow on me. I’m guessing it’s at least 20 years old and somehow things that are out-of-date have taken on a strange new appeal for me of late. But more on that in a minute. The chair is in good condition and very comfortable. James has a nice, cushy chair in the living room downstairs and now—for the first time ever—I have a nice, comfortable chair, too. I’ve had a chair and been very thankful for it but it’s never been particularly comfortable—but this one is, and it’s up in the chapel room. That’s another reason I love this chair. I love the chapel room, but never go there. Now I have a great chair to sit in. :-) I rearranged the furniture up there today and love the room even more now. The room itself is pretty but I love all of the junk that’s in it, too. The word “junk” is probably more literal than you would think. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. ;-)

Here lately James and I have both found ourselves strangely drawn to things from our childhood. We will be walking through a flea market/antique store and one of us will see something and say, “Hey! I remember those—I used to have one when I was a kid!” And it will bring back strange, happy memories. It could be a toy or a game, or even something odd like a glass Garfield mug. If you’ll remember, we’ve got 36 shelves in the chapel room (!) and lots and lots of them were still empty after having moved in. We’ve been slowly picking up a few things here and there to fill them with and it’s just been so much fun. We’ve only bought things super cheap and it’s all stuff that other people would think, “Why in the world do you want that?!” but it makes us happy because we remember when… James has picked up a couple of old metal lunchboxes (not collectors’ items, just JUNK) and we found some old board games from 20 or 30 years ago—the ones we grew up with in their original 80’s boxes—and things like that.

James and I were talking about the happy feelings and fond memories that those childhood items bring to us and he said that he’s been thinking about stuff like that a lot lately. And how all the people he used to watch on TV are dead now. (Disclaimer: he watched people like Lawrence Welk—at least one full generation behind the original airings! Ha!) Still, all of this can only mean one thing.

WE’RE OLD.

And I’m so okay with that. “It is fun to get old.” Okay, so 35 isn't exactly knocking on death's door (as far as we know, right?!), but I appreciate things so much more now than I did when I was younger. Not the THINGS so much, but the memories, the relationships, the events. You recognize your blessings far more after a few years than you do in the beginning. As much as I have always loved my kids and enjoyed every part of their growing up, I’m so much more AWARE of things now than I was 10 years ago. I try to relish my time with them (whoa, that sounds way too over-the-top, but for lack of a better word…) because I see how quickly the last 10 years have gone and know the next 10 will fly by at the same rate or—heaven forbid—even more swiftly.

All of this brought to mind by an old chair that now sits in my den/chapel room. (Still can’t figure out what to name that room! It feels like a den, but it seems completely contrary to have a “den” in the uppermost floor of a house!)

Did I mention that James bought a TV? And a security system? Both while I was away at Ladies’ Retreat. “While the cat’s away,” I tell ya’. ;-) We never had bought a TV since moving to Alabama, but now that our chapel den (how’s that sound?) is nearing completion James has been checking prices. He found a good deal and got it all set up while I was away. We watch so little that we really haven’t missed having a TV, but it was nice to have a family pizza party the other night and watch a movie on a real TV instead of a laptop! :-)

Then there’s the security system. ~sigh~ What can you do? Ha! James had looked into it and discovered that it reduces our insurance by a LOT if we have a home security system—enough that it’s cheaper to buy it and pay the monthly fees to have it than to NOT have it and pay the extra on insurance. Crazy. I hate it. It’s just one more thing for James to be freaky about. Ha! When I got home from Retreat and walked in the door there was a strange chime and then a British woman’s voice saying, “Back Door!” She said it again when I closed the door. And about 318 more times that afternoon. We have three children, you know. They don’t often sit still and twiddle their thumbs—and I wouldn’t want them to. The crazy box would chime and the voice would declare “Back Door!” or “Garage Door!” or WHATEVER door had been opened. Every… single… time. It totally destroyed the peaceful atmosphere that I like to imagine my home has. Ha! I told James that if it said something USEFUL it would be different. Something like, “Joe just went in the GARAGE DOOR and is attempting to use the WOOD BURNER on the pile of DRIED LEAVES by the ROTTED DECK” it would be different. But just to inform us of every single time somebody goes in or out?! It was maddening. But I have a good husband. He loves me and he listens to my concerns. Either that, or he was tired of the griping and weak British mockery of “Back Door!” and decided to shut that option off. I’m happy with the outcome, whatever the motivation. ;-) And he’s been good to not be freaky about the alarm itself (as I was just sure he would be) and so far we haven’t had any incidents and nobody has accidentally set it off and had to explain it to the cops. We’ll see how long that lasts.