The Chair

   It has been a little over two months since my youngest sister Lynn has gone to be with The Lord. I still miss her dearly. I miss the times I would go over to the house she lived at, and even though I knew she did not recognized me all the time, I loved to see her smile when she did.

   After the funeral I had the task of having to get her few worldly possessions. With the help of my wife, brother and sister-in-law we went through her things and decided what to do with them.

   Some of here favorite things, her hats and bead necklaces, we had taken to the funeral home and the next day to the church for anyone to take as a remembrance of Lynn. One of her "Bus Buddies" took some beads and then saw a piece of plastic mesh and a plastic string that Lynn would weave through it then undo it and do it again. When her buddy saw this she asked if she could have it, because, as she put it, "that was Lynn, that is how I want to remember her." She then ask if she took it would she have to put the beads back. I said no, Lynn would want,you to have both.

   One item I did bring home was Lynn's chair. A vinyl leather rocker recliner that she would sit in until she was confined to her wheel chair. The night before Lynn died the caregivers brought this chair in her room for me to sit and sleep in, as I kept vigil with her as she started her final journey.

   When we brought the chair home, my wife had good intentions when she moved my favorite chair and put Lynn's chair in its place. But I could not bring myself to sit in it. It stayed in that place until Joan realized that I was not ready to sit in it yet.

   I remembered her telling me one time when my daughter was over that she sat in it, because by doing so, it felt like she was getting a hug from Lynn.

   This morning I came into the living room and opened the blinds to let the warm sunshine in and saw the chair bathed in the light beckoning me to sit in it.

   So today November 7th, 2013 I sat in the chair and cried as Lynn hugged and rocked me in the warmth of her arms reaching me through the beautiful morning sunlight.