…be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird—
But if you’re a worm, sleep late.”
Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends
As I sit sipping my second morning cup of coffee at 6:30 on this dreary Sunday morning, I’m thinking about the fact that my recently-developed habit of rising early in an effort to get a few extra hours of website development in, has lingered a ways beyond the actual launch of our new site a few weeks ago. I’m also thinking how I’d love to sleep in late, like I did when I was a teen. I so fondly remember how easy it was to do so.
In case you wondered – this is where I sit during my morning seizing-of-early-morning-moments…
…in this bland, blue chair, with a quilt on my lap and a sunny, orange, boy-cat named Copernicus at my feet. Although he had several different wingback chairs as I was growing up, this chair was my grandfather’s last one, which came to live with me when he passed 19 years ago last month.
There’s certainly a matching foot stool that went with the chair, because there was always a matching foot stool that went with the chair, but the one that goes with my (now) blue chair lives eternally in the storage room downstairs, since it never really fits in any room the chair has lived in since they both became mine.
Full transparency, friends: This is the arm of the blue chair I sit in every seize-the-moment-morning:
Even though we’ve had it cleaned numerous times, it never seems to look cleaner than this. Yet in all the years I’ve been sitting in it and all the years my ‘Granch’ sat in it before me, the sturdiness of it has remained exactly the same. Good bones, I guess. Now if only my early morning seizing-of-moments can live without it long enough to recover these good bones with fresh, clean upholstery fabric. I’m working on that. Imagining the style too.
Seizing-of-moments. I’ve learned that these early moments of the day, when much of my world is still fast asleep, are moments worth seizing. My brain is fresh and my thoughts are less weary, since the distractions of the day haven’t yet had a chance to creep in and make them so.
I’m now posting this late Tuesday, if you can believe it (of course you can, because your weary heart knows mine, since we’re both trying our hardest to be less weary).
Time flies that way, doesn’t it? Of course it does. I’m wishing you a Happy Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc. too, and hoping you’re finding it within you to seize; or at least – trying your best to. I know it’s hard sometimes…but I hope you’re managing…from your own (maybe dirty) blue chair, with or without a matching foot stool beneath your feet. Let’s hang in there, shall we?
I love how you write Pam… and how you think. You make me smile. Love the chair! I had my grandma’s old wingback for many years. Had it recovered in crushed dk brown velvet back in the 80s. It was deep with high arms so you couldn’t really snuggle in it… it wasn’t wide enough. But it was a fav. I remember sitting on the arm of that chair while Grandma sat in it and read to me. The chair was a medium blue at that time.
Sometime later (maybe the late 90s) I had it recovered in a green and burgundy plaid. I think (if memory serves correct) I had the plaid mixed with a coordinating print. It was a decorating style at that time. But the guy that recovered the chair did a horrible job. My girlfriend went back with me to the studio and demanded a refund. We got it too! We used that old chair for many years. Not sure when we finally got rid of it but when we did, it was time.
I still have my grandmothers buffet sideboard tho. That piece was (and is) non negotiable. It’s a beautiful antique that resides in the short hallway that’s open to the kitchen. I recall that piece in my grandmas dining room. It had a huge mirror hung on the wall above it. I had her dining room table as well. When Mike wanted to get a new table I agreed and gave Grandma’s dining set to a lady raising her grandkids who loved antiques… but the sideboard stayed. No negotiation. I’m so glad. This house we are in now, in Idaho, had a perfect spot for the sideboard… and another spot for a china cupboard… something I’d always wanted but never had room for… because the sideboard was…
non negotiable. 😊
Oh wow – what a great writing style you have too, Pris – and what a wonderful story! The reality is that I am ever-focused on not collecting clutter for the sake of collecting clutter, but I think the key is to define what is clutter and what is, as you say, non negotiable. I’ve had several other pieces that belonged to my grandparents and have worked to keep only the ones that are useful and so meaningful I can’t bear to let them go (that does include my gram’s chair too, but that is another story entirely!). Thanks, as always, for your encouraging words and the stories you share.