The " A Piece Of Furniture For All Generations" Story

LDub writing while relaxing in his recliner.

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my recliner, writing a story about ... my recliner.  Recently read that the recliner chair has been embraced by the Baby Boomer generation.  May be so, but my generation, the Silent Generation, loves them also.  Just about all my friends, as well as family members, has a recliner.  In case you have no idea what I am talking about, a recliner is an armchair that reclines when the occupant, precisely me, lowers the chair's back and raises its foot rest.  Great position for watching television which in turn causes the eyelids to recline over the viewers eyes.  And, about a half-hour later, the occupant sits back up once again to see what they might have missed on the TV.  Actually, around 1850, Napoleon III was said to have used a reclining chair for the first time.

Chair and ottoman used by Napoleon III.

The chair had turned wooden legs and was upholstered in muslin and had a matching ottoman to go with it.  Naturally had to Google it and sure enough, there it was on a website, for sale in a Chicago antique shop for $3,200.  Looked a bit worn, but what the heck, it belonged to Napoleon!  So, I dug a bit deeper and found that two American cousins are credited with gaining a patent on a wooden recliner.  Then in 1928, the patent led to the founding of La-Z-Boy.  When La-Z-Boy came out with their recliners, they came in one size: big and bulky.  My wife and I actually had a La-Z-Boy that lasted for years and years and it definitely was big and bulky. Bought it shortly after we were married and placed it in a prominent place in our first home on Janet Ave. in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Chair was the center of attention, helping all family members get over everything from the common cold to a few cases of mononucleosis.  Our daughter loved sitting in the recliner with her pet hamster ... and then one day he got off her lap and found his way into the rear part of the recliner.  

Otis managed to survive the recliner ordeal.

Had to pull quite a few of the staples out to retrieve him.  Then one day my wife and I, after a week-end trip to the New Jersey shore while my parents babysat our three children, walked into the house and there was our Himalayan cat, Otis, peeing on the chair.  Boy was I mad!  Ottie was so mad that we left him alone with my parents that he took it out on the family's favorite item in the house, the recliner.  No way was I getting rid of it so I maneuvered the bulky chair onto the front porch and took the garden hose to it.  Scrubbed it over and over again with Lysol and then hosed it down a few times.  Took close to a week before it dried out and then returned it to its prominent place in the living room.  Plopped myself in that wonderful chair and fell asleep.  My wife woke me just in time to go to church choir practice with my dad.  About ten minutes into choir practice the woman in front of me began to sniff into the air. "What do I smell?" she said to the lady next to her.  

Carol in her recliner with an earlier cat, Creamsicle.

"It smells like disinfect- ant," the lady replied as we began practicing the next hymn.  I tapped her on the shoulder and said, "That would be me!"  You can't imagine the pain I felt when the new recliner arrived and the old one went out the door for the last time.  Today we have two recliners; a leather one that I have claimed since it is easier to sit in with my bad back and a soft cloth-covered one that Carol uses to hold our new cat, The Gray Lady.  Today's recliners have become sleek and smooth-functioning, combining designer-quality looks with engineer-quality operations.  Some recliners have cooling chambers to keep you drinks cold while others you can put against the wall and they will still recline.  But, I find I can still fall asleep in just about any of them.  I can't imagine they will ever be replaced in the home.  But, none will ever be more memorable than the very first one that Carol and I purchased when we bought our first home.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.