We all have attachments to different and various things in our home. One of my very special heirlooms is that which belonged to my maternal grandmother, Lula Hoover Long. As far back as I can remember, when the door of my grandparent’s home was opened, there was, front and center my grandmother’s rocking chair. More times than not, she was sitting in it and the moment the door opened, we would hear her voice say something like “Come on in Roanella’s!” The reason for that name was a comparison of someone she knew back-in-the-day who dropped by all dressed up without warning. ‘That’s a story for another day.
After her welcome though, all of the grands would rush, in-bulk to hug and kiss her. Today, we call that “group hugs” and that we did.
There was, then, as now, a distinct “creak” to the traversing of that rocker on the floor. Before writing this piece, I sat in the rocking chair to try it out for effect, so as to try to describe it. I discovered that I felt the same when I heard the sound of Grandmama’s rocking chair many years ago. It has a musical time signature of 2/4 and the creaking sound is like that of the groaning of two pieces of wood caught in a vice grip. It’s like “|WAAAH| |WAAAH| |WAAAH| |WAAAH|”
I came into possession of Grandmama’s rocking chair after she passed away in 1981. My Aunt Geneer, my Mother’s twin sister called me one day and told me that she had something for me. When I went to my grandparent’s house, she walked me over to the rocking chair and told me that my Mother had given that rocker to my Grandmother when they lived on Aberdeen Avenue in Riverside in the late 1940’s. She told me that she wanted me to take it home. Well, there just were no words. Not only did I receive a blessing of something of my Grandmother’s but also a gift from my own Mother.
Both of my own children were rocked to sleep in this rocking chair and since, I’ve had 3 grandsons , all who have had the pleasure hearing the sound of 2/4 musical timing. Maybe we’ll get a musician out of one of them.
See You Tomorrow
Nan
