The story of a rocking chair...

Photo by R.H.

Yes, I'm in Colorado visiting my sister and yes, that's my grand-newphew, Austin, in the photo above but no, I haven't seen him yet and no, this post isn't about him - it's about the rocking chair!

That chair dates back to my birth in 1947. It was a gift from my god-father, my uncle James, and was a piece of my family's furniture collection until my sister had her first child in 1973 and it passed to her home. There it stayed for many years until her sons had outgrown it and she decorated it with a rosemauling (or rosemaling) motif and returned it to my mother. After my mother's death in 1994, the chair returned to my sister's home, the only household descended from this branch of the Flemings where progeny might occur.

Last night my sister told me an interesting story about the origins of that little rocking chair. When my sister and brother-in-law lived in Chelmsford years ago, three older neighbor ladies who lived together would often stop by for a cup of tea. On one such visit, one of the ladies commented on a youth chair at the kitchen table, saying, "I'll bet that's a Nichols and Stone chair." My sister turned the chair over and sure enough, branded into the wood under the seat was the Nichols and Stone emblem and the Gardner, Massachusetts location of the company. Looking about, the neighbor spied my rocking chair and declared, "That's probably a Nichols and Stone chair as well." Upturning the rocker my sister found the same logo. Her neighbor's name? "Miss Nichols," a descendant of the furniture making Nichols family.

I heard that story for the first time last night - the importance of visiting with family!

It's good to know where things come from, the journey they have made through our lives, where they are now - and to wonder where they might travel in the future.

Well, this weekend I'll be at my grand-newphew's home to see him climb into my Nichols and Stone rocking chair...

I'll let you know how it goes!

-ConcordPastor