Yesterday we went back to the La-z-boy store.
We’ve been talking about it for months and finally did it on Monday. Before that trek, we’d made a plan to make the first trip as a ‘recon’, hopefully eliminating most of the uncomfortable models and making a note of the few best so that we could go back for an extended inspection & trial.
Monday’s recon went predictably: it began with hope and ended in pain. I probably ought to mention that it’s Barb’s body that needs the chair and, although we both began with hope, it was her pain at the end.
And therein lies the reason for the trips to La-z-boy. Pain. The chronic pain that Barb lives with as a result of her disabling shoulder injury is one thing. She walks a tightrope between “what you don’t use, you lose” and “Doc, it hurts when I do ‘this'”. But simply sitting in chair while watching TV or reading results, after about ten minutes, in muscle spasms and [insert negative adjective here] headaches.
On Monday we had winnowed the chair selection down to two or three before the process had, predictably, ushered in the aforementioned [insert negative adjective here] headache. Our kind and patient salesperson, Pam, made a note of the chairs that Goldilocks might find “just right” on the next visit. She verified that they could be selected with either manual or electric mechanisms, showed us a few of the colors that we might consider, and told us when she would next be working. We made a mental note to bring books and a blankie along in order to truly test the chairs.
Thursday morning dawned and after breakfast, dog walks, a kayak session (mine) and physical therapy (Barb’s) we drove back to La-z-boy with our books. I suppose it’s a good sign that about thirty minutes passed before Barb began to sense the onset of spasms. Clearly, we’d need another test session. But Barb did switch chairs before we left and immediately ruled out choice #2. Saturday will be our next attempt.
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The photo (above) was taken from the comfort of my chair (crash test dummy) as I sat next to Barb (Official Tester). Uncle Paul had sent us a book (Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene) which I intended to read on an upcoming trip, but I grabbed it for our chair adventure. I’d opened it and begun reading the introduction when Barb asked me a question. After we’d chatted for a couple minutes I looked back and noticed the shadows on the page. I snapped the photo, suspecting that the shadows were some sort of cosmic message about light, perspectives, or something.
Many years ago I heard a comedian (Gallagher?) ask “What would a chair look like if our knees bent the other way?” My friends of the Zen persuasion often recommend, when confronting a difficult question, decision, or problem, that one “sit with it” – though I believe that the sitting involves a Zafu.
It seems to me that the problem with chairs goes beyond light, shadows, and knees.
If Barb sits in the forest and there is no chair, does her head ache?
B & B 