This article by Ray Spitzenberger appeared first in IMAGES for Oct. 28, 2021, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, TX.
It seems that for most of my life I have been in search of a truly comfortable chair to relax in, the search more pressing in these later years. When I was a child in the 1930’s and 1940’s, growing up in rural Texas, living rooms (I don’t remember families having dens or patio rooms in those days) contained rather uncomfortable furniture, with possibly the exception of the rocking chair.
My maternal grandparents had mostly handmade furniture, made by my grandfather and my great grandfather. The day bed, used by my grandfather when he came in from the fields from plowing with a heavy plow and a workhorse, was handmade and very uncomfortable, to us kids anyway. There was also a handmade wooden “love seat,” which seemed like a short bench with a very straight wooden back and arms, excruciatingly uncomfortable, a couple of straight wooden chairs near the wood heater, and Grandma’s rocking chair, the only really comfortable piece of furniture in the room. It made me believe, early on, that rocking chairs were the only comfortable chairs in existence, especially since hers had cushions. Of course when my grandmother was in the living room, no one sat in her rocking chair.
My parents’ living room was even more austerely furnished. There was a living room “set,” consisting of an un-cushioned rocking chair (not at all comfortable like Grandma’s), a matching straight chair with arms, and another matching straight chair without arms. These were arranged in somewhat of a semi-circle around the console radio. The rough wooden floor was covered with linoleum, on which my brother and I usually sat with a small quilt under us. The living room was mostly used for listening to the radio, as socializing usually took place in the large, also sparsely furnished kitchen,
Well, I was young and healthy and so sitting on cushion-less chairs and hard benches didn’t bother me all that much. It was in my adult years that I searched for comfort.
After leaving the nest, unmarried, I lived in a series of furnished apartments for a number of years, the furniture usually not comfortable, but not quite as austere as my parents’ and grandparents’ furnishings. In any case, I had no choice. It wasn’t until I became a little more affluent (though teaching salaries in those days could not have been considered “affluence”) that I rented unfurnished apartments and had to acquire my own furniture, no doubt about the first time I began looking for a really comfortable chair to relax in after a hard day of teaching school. Oh for a glass of wine and a cushy, relaxing chair!
Not able to afford costly furnishings, I tried various options, — chaise lounge (only comfortable for a short while), basket chairs (looked relaxing but weren’t in reality), a modern day bed (most uncomfortable of any furniture), and a rocking chair (the closest thing to comfort I could find). Whether used furniture or new, I couldn’t find the perfect chair, on my budget anyway.
Fast forward a number of years of searching and not finding the much desired comfort chair, to marriage and three more years of apartment-living, though married-couples apartments with couches. Then finally we bought a home, a comfortable couch, and a rocking chair (mainly to use for rocking our first baby to sleep at night). Even though our own furniture was sparse, it was more comfortable than anything we used previously. I finally had a wonderfully comfortable rocking chair, but literally wore it out rocking our firstborn to sleep every night. And we haven’t had a couch that comfortable since.
When the rocking chair went kaput, we bought a new one, this time a bentwood, and I found it enormously discomfited! Thank goodness the second baby didn’t require as much rocking, but I missed the great relaxing comfort of the old rocker.
As I grew older, my search intensified for the perfect chair, or couch. I made the mistake of buying an expensive leather couch and love seat set that has turned out to be anything but comfortable and relaxing, — beautiful to look at, nice to sleep on, but uncomfortable to sit on. When my father-in-law passed away, we inherited his rocking chair, which comes close to being comfortable, but not nearly as much so as my grandmother’s rocker.
Finally, as old age and arthritis caught up with my wife and me, we bit the bullet and bought his and hers recliners for our patio room. These are the best yet, and we enjoy them enormously; I love mine for afternoon naps. Yet, the longer I enjoy mine, the more I find the imperfections about it, the main one being the footrest part doesn’t come up high enough. And I wish it were wider, though my cat likes it just as it is! So the search goes on! For the perfect chair!
-o-
Ray Spitzenberger is a retired WCJC teacher, a retired LCMS pastor, and the author of three books, It Must Be the Noodles, Open Prairies, and Tanka Schoen.