The Couch

I have not considered myself a very worldly person over the last 58 years.  All I owned I could fit in my house back in Alabama.  I probably held on to things a little longer than I should have but nonetheless, I personally feel that people are more important than things.

Once in a while, though,  I have had to deal with a material possession that I could not let go. Just recently it was with a piece of furniture I will call "the couch".  This was not any ordinary couch.  It was the couch my grandparents had in their home back in Brooklyn over 75 years ago. I remember where it sat in my grandmother's apartment. I remember playing on it with my "Colorforms" set.

My mother took possession of this couch after both grandparents passed away and had it reupholstered which looked beautiful in her home. Then, when she passed away, my father took it along with him to Kansas City to live with my brother and his family.
After a few years, my brother's family moved to Kaysville, Utah for a job promotion and they took the couch with them all the while not really using it as it was stuck in the basement or garage.

So when I had the chance to take the couch home to Alabama on a trip to Utah, I did.  I knew that I would eventually reupholster the thing to fit into my house's decor so I covered it with several tarps and left it in the carport.  It should have never been there for as long as it was but I just never got to it.

When I finally did bring it into my living room, this couch had sat through 3 hurricanes and countless tropical storms.  It took on a musty smell that I tried to get rid of but it never really left. (and believe me I tired everything possible)  Not having enough money for a professional to transform this marvelous piece of furniture, I would put covers over it in the living room and sit on it; but it was no use.  It needed a whole knew start and I couldn't do it.

So now I'm in a 2 bedroom apartment in Mesa, Arizona with a much smaller living room and I just had to face reality: I could not keep this couch. Especially when the legs were now different sizes so it waddled when we sat it in which made marks on the new linoleum floor AND it was somewhat uncomfortable to sit on it, to boot.  I just had to get rid of it and get something else.

I advertised this beauty on many different websites but no takers. It's really an upholsterers delight but I didn't know any; upholsters, that is.  So last night, my friend and I picked it up and placed it in the back of my truck and drove to the local thrift store for them to sell it.  I almost waved good-bye as the man at the thrift store wheeled it through the drop off area in the back of the store. It was like an old friend was leaving for good. Sigh...

Maybe an antique expert will spy it there and do it justice by reupholstering it into the beautiful piece of furniture it should be. Maybe someone will appreciate it's woodwork beauty on the top and arms and find a place in their home for others to lounge as I did in my grandmother's apartment.  One could only hope.

For now, I just think about having that couch for as long as I did and hoping my grandmother isn't too upset with me for giving it away.