The Old Morris Chair

Does anyone out there remember the old Morris Chair?  The last time I visited my father before his death, he was sitting in his special chair, a Morris Chair.  The year was 1953, in the summer.  I was living in Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula and had gone home to Kentucky to see my father.  He had suffered a stroke and I went to see if I could be of any help to my mother in caring for him.  He was 71 and had given up working at his job as a tax and bookkeeping service.  The night before he had stayed up to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on television.

On the particular day I remember, he was sitting in his favorite chair, in his bedroom and he was using his right hand to lift his left hand.  His left arm and hand were resting on the wooden arm of the Morris chair.  He was attempting to make his left hand move and saying "Come on Lefty, come on".  Not much was known about strokes at that time, so no rehabilitation was ordered.  He lived for six months in that condition.  In the present time he may have been rehabilitated through any of several means.  As it was, he struggled with his inability to use his left side and eventually died from complications of  pneumonia around Thanksgiving of that year.

My father knew he could not continue to live like that and he had discussed it with my mother.  He told her he did not  want to die as "the children might need me".  With eight children, he dearly loved each one of us and began each day in prayer for every one  of us.  I suppose I associate my father with that Morris chair as it was his chair and we had it in our home for a long time.  I think it was the forerunner of the Lazy Boy of today.

This memory was pulled to the fore this morning when I was looking at the favorite chair of my late husband, a Lawson chair.  It was originally red leather and we probably bought it in the 1950's.  Now it is upholstered in a masculine pattern of blues and blacks and maroons which my son-in-law had selected around twenty years ago.  Because it was my husbands favorite chair, it has sentimental value for me, plus it is a comfortable chair for resting.

You may have a favorite chair now or one that you wish you still had.  I am in that category also.  We once bought a Lincoln chair and it may have been the forerunner of the Morris as it  looked similar but was set on a rocker base.  I had the audacity to undertake the task of reupholstering it myself with  no skills in that area.   It was covered with old red velvet and looking rather ratty. I was brave enough to try as we only paid $10 for it from an "antique" dealer.  I do not  believe for one minute that it had any value as an antique, but it had rockers and I wanted a rocker for the baby we expected.  Since we were on a limited budget it seemed like a good idea.  We did not keep the Lincoln chair however.  It was old and musty and somewhere along the way we gave it away or junked it.  It really had no sentimental value for me and that is why I did not feel compelled to keep it.

I think most men have a favorite chair in their homes, or it seems that they should have a place to relax after a day of work.  Archie Bunker had his and beware  anyone who sat in his chair.  For my father, he used his chair to sit while he read the evening newspaper.  That is almost a thing of the past.  So many people get their news via television or on line.  I think that favorite chair for most men is now where they sit to watch television in the evening.  It may be an unnamed symbol of authority. He who sits here has earned the right to enjoy this space and not be disturbed.

I had almost forgotten about the old Morris chair so I checked it out on Wikipedia and learned that it was originally a prototype of Ephraim Colman in rural Sussex but was marketed by William Morris company, as early as the 1880's.  The main feature of it was the reclining back which was hinged to be raised and lowered as desired.  I understand a type of Morris chair is still available for purchase.  All that I knew about it at the time was that it was Daddy's chair and if anyone was in it when he entered the room, they vacated it  immediately.  It was relinquished not out of fear, but out of respect for him.  He was always respectful of others and it was returned in kind. 

So, the old Morris chair has special memories and meaning for me, as it reminds me of the head of our family, my father.

The Thing About Family.......

Growing up in a family which celebrates Christmas and the values of that Christian family helps to keep you centered in your life.  I could compare it to the point on a child's toy - a spinning top.  The balance of the top is in the point on which it spins.  If that is toppled the top goes out of control, yet when it is  righted again, it continues spinning.   Our spiritual life keeps us spinning.  Since we are imperfect beings our balance sometimes wavers, but being embedded into our conscience, it rights itself and we regain our momentum to continue our ingrained spinning.

The strongest earthly source of energy to keep us spinning is  our family.  The stronger the family ties, the smoother the spinning, and the weaker the ties, the more likely it is that the energy runs out.  As the reader may surmise, I am an advocate for strong family ties.

Families begin with a vow of fidelity, a promise to love and stay together, no matter what forces may try to break the bond. If the people taking the vow understand what that means and  say it sincerely they are more likely to keep their vows and make a strong family.  It is this strong bond of family that is foremost in my mind today. Much has been written about what makes a family strong.  One thing that glues us together is tradition of gathering for special events, year after year, and Christmas is one of those events we celebrate.  Being alone on Christmas day after having years of being together as a family can be a very lonely time.  We have to relive the past times to keep from feeling alone by phone calls, or texts or emails or inviting someone into our homes to enjoy the warmth of friendship.

Happily, I had half of my family here to spend the night and then on Christmas day we enjoyed our time together with meals, games, gift giving and also with those phone calls to the ones celebrating elsewhere.  Families do grow and begin to include new family members as children marry and have their own families.  Families grow and change but our inner source of energy remains because we have been centered with special experiences which are unique to our family.

Each family has a different story to tell, some may be similar but at the core of our being is the love of the family that energizes us and keeps us spinning through life.  I hope your Christmas events included those happy times with family to keep you renewed and energized, if not, try to find someone to be your family and start building some memories to keep you centered through both happy and difficult times.

In the Aftermath

It seems reasonable to say that every American and most of the world has heard of the carnage of Sandy Hook.  No one who has knowledge of this unfathomable event can go unchanged.  Everyone can relate to it at some level.  We cannot imagine how those parents will continue to live out their lives after this horror has been inflicted upon them.

Some changes will come about as our conscience demands it.  To live in a free society we must come to terms with more controls to protect the general public.  Those who never do harm to others will have to accept new measures to assure that those who would do harm are hindered in their efforts.

Looking back to the years when I was in the classroom with six year children to guide, educate and supervise to keep safe, I remember the tactics used in our schools then.  Back in the 1950's no thought was given to major disruptions.  Our concerns centered on snow and icy roads, playground safety, transportation to and from schools, weather and supervising the washing of hands before eating.

In my first classroom we had no running water.  I was adamant about the children washing their hands before eating.  Most of the children brought their lunches in brown paper bags or they walked home for lunch.  Some of their homes were in sight of the school, which was on a mountain top.  Each day we had a ritual.  I had brought a round metal pan to school and a large pitcher.  I stood beside the pan and poured water over the little hands after they had soaped with a bar of ivory soap.  In a modern version of this procedure, I stood outside the bathroom and if I suspected little hands had not been washed I asked that they be lifted so I could smell for soap.  Sometimes a little boy who was suspect at the time would just turn and go back into the bathroom not waiting for me to check his hands.  He knew the procedure and what he had to do.

When I was in a school with an intercom system we would receive a coded message from the office if there was a need for it.  Our school was near a prison so we would occasionally have a prisoner on the loose.  If we were outdoors someone would come out to tell us to come in.  The most we had to fear was an irate parent who would storm in the building and head straight for the room of the intended target.  This coded message was for every teacher to step out into the hallway and just stand by his/her door.  This was a silent message that witnesses were all around and although I never saw an incident to prove the effectiveness of the method, it was said to work very well.

Later on, a sign was placed near the entrance stating that visitors must sign in at the school office.  I think much more stringent measures are already  at play in our schools.  Since I last had a classroom in 1991, our world has become much smaller with instant viewing of events around the globe.  We are much more informed and vigilant and less safe than we were thirty years ago.

During World War II, President Delano Roosevelt said that "All we have to fear is fear itself".  I am not so sure that will hold true for 2012.  It is all too real that there is much to fear today.  There are some real measures that we can take to reduce the possibility of danger, but in reality, we cannot be sure that we will be safe.  To over react to try to defend ourselves can have ugly consequences.  Unfortunately we have seen the consequences of this over reaction played out in this latest unspeakable tragedy.  No one wants to put it into words, but it is a true.