The Rocking Chair

My Grandfather Ashe made this rocking chair for my Grandmother "Theresa Charlotte Clark Ashe" in the 1920's. Grammy loved her rocker and always kept it in her big kitchen where she would have her tea and rock her babies; back then and even today many of us "live" in our kitchens. With the detail workmanship you can tell that the chair was made with patience and love. Even my Mother was rocked in this chair...sadly my Grandmother passed away from Typhoid when my Mother was just three. Not bearing to look at it sitting empty in the kitchen corner next to the wooden cooking stove- Grampa moved the chair into the barn and covered it up. When my Mother married she took a few items with her, the rocker being one of them. I remember all the times growing up, sitting in her lap- rocking while she told me stories of how Grampa built the chair and "lots" of other stories about her and her sister growing up. No-matter what my Mother was doing or how much housework she had to get done, come the early afternoon I always got to sit on my Mother's lap- rocking back and forth, listening about all the childhood stories she had to tell. I remember always feeling so safe and loved. As I grew older I would sit in the chair alone, remembering the stories and dreaming a few of my own. The older I got- the more it became my comfort; hard to explain...but just sitting in the rocker was "HUGS" As I got older...so did the chair:

It was breaking down and I couldn't bear to toss it out....Rich knew how much this rocker meant to me, so he asked around at the Embassy and was told about this man who does re-finishing. He met with him, showed him the chair and told him how important it was not to "re-do" but preserve the chair. He even complimented my Grandfathers work by saying how much time he must have put into the chair, noticing that the arms were just one piece of wood that had been soaked and bent over time."Rockers are not made like this anymore"Well, it took awhile but I finely got my Rocker back

 When I first saw it, it took my breath away...then there was panic..."my Grandfathers chair...what have we done!?!
I took me almost all day; but I finely sat down in the chair and slowly began to rock. Closing my eyes- it was all coming back and they are STILL there....My hugs from the past.