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| OLD RED ROCKER |
One Christmas eve, when I was a child, as I laid in bed listening for the sounds of Santa on the roof I overheard the the voices of my parents discussing a gift that I was to receive from Santa. It was a time when folks were still feeling the repercussions of the depression and WWII. Money was beginning to flow again in the economy yet people were still in the non-spending mode.
The gift they were discussing was a hand-me-down cradle that was last used by my older sister. My father had just refinished it and put a chime on the rocker so that it played a tune when you rocked it. It was a lovely doll cradle by the time he had it all redone. I loved it when I saw it under the tree the next morning -- even though I knew it was a hand-me-down and not from Santa. I played along with the idea of Santa bringing it.
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| OLD CLOTH TAPE SEAT AND LOTS OF WEAR MARKS |
I had the cradle for many years. -- somewhere along my path of life I lost it. That cradle had taught me many things about family and living according to ones values.
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| STABILIZING WIRE |
It taught me that my father, with love and kindness for his daughter, took the time to redo the cradle and add music to it. Also, it taught me the meaning of the phrase -- waste not, want not. My parents had to make do with what they had -- they didn't extend their tight budget to more than they had in their pocket.
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| OLD REPAIR TO ONE OF THE ROCKERS |
One day, later in life, I bought a child's worn old red rocking chair. It reminded me of the lessons I had learned from my cradle -- the chair obviously had been used by several generations. There was evidence that the rocker had several problems at one time and that someone had lovingly fixed them.
The previous owners had made a seat with cloth tape, probably because the original splint seat had worn through. Also, one of the rockers had broken at some point and had been repaired in excellent fashion. Apparently, through use, the little rocker had become shaky -- so someone corrected the wobbling chair by repairing it with tightly twisted wire. All these repairs gave the rocker many leases on its long life.
The previous owners had made a seat with cloth tape, probably because the original splint seat had worn through. Also, one of the rockers had broken at some point and had been repaired in excellent fashion. Apparently, through use, the little rocker had become shaky -- so someone corrected the wobbling chair by repairing it with tightly twisted wire. All these repairs gave the rocker many leases on its long life.
So when I remember my childhood cradle during the holiday season, I now look at the little red chair and know that it represents family, love, caring and reuse -- my idea of what the holiday season should be about.
