It’s just a rocking chair.

That’s what I kept telling myself. But as I watched it get loaded into the back of the car and drive away, I felt a great sense of loss and overwhelming urge to cry.

The rocking chair was given to me on my return to Michigan, to rock my two young children. But as time went on it was replaced and so began its journey on my teaching career.

It traveled with me to kindergarten where I sat every day singing songs and reading stories to eager young faces. When a child was having a hard time I could pull him up in my lap and gently rock him to help regain composure. It’s where we gathered each morning for circle time, talked about the calendar, reviewed our lessons, wrote shared stories and grew.

It followed me to first grade where students could sit in the chair and read the stories they wrote to the class. The student of the day sat in the chair to tell the story of their adventures with Snuggles the Bear the night before. Again the chair was where we gathered for lessons and stories and songs.

It followed me to preschool where children would tease and try to beat me into the chair. Where more than once an upset child would bury their face in my lap over something causing them anguish. Where students who needed gentle redirection sat on my lap. Where guest readers sat and shared their time with my young students.

It’s just a rocking chair.

When I retired, the new teacher didn’t need it so I brought it home to save it from an uncertain future. But alas, I had no need for it any longer. I put it for sale, hoping that if someone spent money on it, however little an amount, they would value it. That’s when it happened. I was contacted by a person who wanted to purchase it. She explained that she was a special needs teacher in a nearby city and her students would love it. She must have thought I was a crazy person asking all kinds of questions:  the age of her students, where she taught, was the chair going to be used in her classroom. 

She had no idea of that chair’s history, but I did! My heart skipped a beat and I knew it had found a new home. I told her that she could have the chair at no cost. My students and I had been blessed for so many years with that chair. It is only right to bless another class.

It's just a rocking chair, but to me, it is a piece of my heart. I hope it finds a place in their s.