While my parents were over waiting for the bus to take them to the airport, we were sitting around the living room with the children. I had been sitting on our rocking chair that we had picked up before their visit from the recycling area outside our apartment before their arrival. It sat in the corner of the living room and was a very nice addition to our room. Unfortunately, it was a little rickety, and my weight leaning on it popped out one of the arm rests. My dad, who is handy and has lots of tools at his disposal at home, suggested that if I was able to drill holes and find the right kind of nuts and bolts for the chair I’d be able to fix it.

After seeing my parents off at the bus stop and doing several other chores, I went about attempting to fix the rocking chair. The first problem was that the tools we thought we had were missing. Somehow we’ve misplaced, or loaned out, our drill. Not only that, but we had no bolts of the right size for the holes, or any kind of nails. I was headed to the hardware store when my wife called someone who let us borrow their toolbox. We had some larger bolts, and I tried to see if I could get them to fit by drilling out the holes, but everything I did made the chair less solid. Eventually, I had to give in to defeat and set the chair back out on the curb where I found it.

The only comfortable chair in the living room now gone, only the couch remains, filled with pillows from the abandoned rocking chair. Getting Arrow now involves bouncing him in his own small chair once again with your feet once your arms are too tired to carry him around. Gone are the comfortable days of rocking back and forth till you both start to sleep. No more place for me to sit and read my tablet that is too small for my daughter to crawl up and jump on me.

I miss my rocking chair all ready. Oh, and my parents. Miss them too.