The Bivens rocking chair

 

I love this rocking chair.  I have loved it since the first time I remember laying eyes on it.  This belonged to my great grandparents and, like so many things I cherish, I first noticed when the estate was divided in the mid 80s. At that time, this rocking chair was upstairs in the homeplace in one of the front bedrooms. This was the main guest bedroom. It had a marble top three-piece bedroom set along with several other pieces including this rocking chair. Back in its day, this was the bedroom that my Aunt Mary Lee and Uncle Bunyan spent their summers in when they came to visit the homeplace. Anyway, when the furnishings were divided up, this piece went to live in Wilmington with Aunt Billie.  She, too, kept it in an upstairs bedroom.  That was the bedroom that Grandmother and I would stay in when we visited. I loved just sitting in this rocking chair and feeling like I was enveloped in my family history. After Aunt Billie passed, the rocking chair came to me and was in my childhood bedroom for years.  Finally, it had a home with me.  And, for many years, its home was out in the garage.  Once I was living on my own, I took it out of the garage and cleaned it up and now it sits in my living room. Again, I love to sit in this and just let my memories take me to good places.  It's actually pretty comfortable though it may not look like it.  It presently has a vinyl seat.  I don't know if it is original or not to the chair.  It could have one time been a caned bottom, but I love it none the less.  I love knowing the history of my pieces, especially when it's family history.