ROCKING MOM

My husband Steven held his phone up to me, “Alex and I thought you might like this for Mother's Day.” I took the phone from him and looked at what he'd saved on his Amazon account. It was a beautiful black rocking chair. “I thought we'd get two of them.” he added.

“Oh my gosh! Yes!” I handed the phone back to him. “They're perfect!”

My sister Liz had given us wooden rocking chairs for our front porch and I loved them, but weather hadn't treated them very kindly.

Steven began clicking to finish the order. “These are made to stay outside.” He looked over at me. “Do you want me to get a third one?”

“Why?” We only had two on the front porch. I didn't think we'd need a third.

“To replace your old one on the back porch.”

“What!” I began shaking my head no. “I love that rocking chair!”

“I know, but the paint's peeling off of it.”

“So, I'll paint it again.”

Steven sighed. “You've been saying that for the past two years. Why not just get a brand new one?” He turned the phone so I could see the picture again. “These will never have to be painted.”

“But I don't know how the new ones will rock.”

Now Steven looked confused. “What do you mean you don't know how it will rock?”

“Rocking chairs can be very different.” I began pointing to my fingers to list the different issues. “Sometimes it's a short choppy rock,” I started with my pointer finger, then moved on. “Or maybe the rock is too long and you feel like you're going to fall backwards. Or the front rock is too short and you feel like you're going to be ejected.”

Steven shook his head. “So what if you don't like the rock on these?”

“They're for the front porch. I'll rarely be sitting on those.” I pointed to the back porch. “But you know I live out there, and that's the perfect rocking chair.” Now it was time for me to sigh. “Besides I've had that rocking chair before we were even married. It's like it was part of my dowry.”

Now Steven started to laugh. “Your dowry? What else did you bring in your dowry? A couple of goats and maybe a cow?”

Now I started to laugh. “No, but I did come with a few outdoor cats.”

“Oh, yeah.” Steven shook his head. “I forgot about that.”

“Hey, they were good mousers! When you live by the river you need a few good mousers!”

I got up and went into the kitchen to look out window. “I love my rocking chair.” I was looking at my green, paint peeling, special chair. “But I get your point it does look terrible.” I turned around and looked back at Steven. “I promise I'll repaint it this summer.”

“Whenever you're ready let me know and I'll give you my sander.”

“Sander?” I looked back out the window. “The paints all peeled off. What's to sand?”

Steven just laughed. “Okay, I see that painting project going really well.”

“What?”

Steven finished ordering the new rockers. “They'll be here by the end of the week.”

“Yeah!” I smiled. “They'll look beautiful!” I went over to give him a hug. “Thank you! They're the perfect Mother's Day present!”