New baby brings chair out of retirement

We made an eventful trip to Berkeley, Calif., in September, and saw two important things ... a very new grandson and a very old rocking chair.

First, the grandson. Shawn and Becky's baby son was born in mid-August, and named Jasper Denny Scofield (Denny is his Grandpa Scofield's middle name). We receive e-mailed pictures of him regularly, the first taken when he was just a few hours old. We saw him turn from a blanket-wrapped little bundle to an infant with a budding personality.

Just before we left for Berkeley, we received a picture of a kid with an attitude. When we made a trip through Montana during the summer, I'd told Jasper's mommy and daddy that I'd tried to find him a little cowboy outfit, since that's cowboy country. I knew the idea was sort of tasteless, I told them, so they were probably lucky I hadn't succeeded.

To show me that Jasper was indeed cowboy material, they snapped a picture of him at 1 month old, dressed in a tiny western shirt and mini-cowboy hat (one-pint, not ten-gallon). The expression on the baby's face was priceless. It said, "What the heck do you guys think you're doing? I didn't sign on for this kind of embarrassment!"

That attitude reminded me a lot of another little boy I'd known ... his daddy. I couldn't wait to see Jasper in the flesh.

On the trip down, the closer we got to Berkeley, the more my excitement grew. Remember that fizzy sensation you felt as a child, waking early on Christmas morning and knowing you couldn't get out of bed until daylight? Well, that was the feeling I had -- simmering, restless anticipation.

I was brought down a few degrees when we almost hit a deer with a death-wish in southern Oregon, but it didn't take long to bounce back up. We reached Berkeley, and thought briefly that it might be nice to not show up until Shawn got home from work, so he could give us the first showing. Nah, I decided. Dumb idea. I couldn't wait that long.

Jasper is even more adorable than I'd expected -- no biased-grandma opinion here, of course. We took enough pictures that the Jasper screensaver slide show on my computer lasts for about 10 minutes. Productivity is slowed down when I watch the whole show before I begin writing.

I look very strange in many of the pictures where I'm holding him. My mouth is in weird shapes and my forehead is creased. That's because I was singing to him, and your mouth always looks funny on vowels. The forehead creases came from deep thought. I was having a hard time remembering the words to a lullaby not sung for 20 years. I know it started with "Go to sleepy, little baby," and ended with "Ride a shiny little pony," but what came in the middle?

In some of the pictures, the little boy with an attitude peeks out. He's looking at me with an expression that says, "Who let this strange woman in? You've got to be more careful about keeping the doors locked!"

Yes, that attitude took me back many years, but the other important thing we saw, the old rocking chair, took me farther.

That rocking chair was the first piece of furniture we bought. It came from a second-hand store down by the harbor in Bellingham, Wash. Luckily it cost only $2.50, because we couldn't afford much more, and we needed it to rock our infant daughter.

It rocked all four of our children. I rested my tired body in it for many middle-of-the-night feedings. The babies grew, and the chair matured with them. It was perfect for soothing toddlers with earaches.

Eventually the kids didn't need to be rocked, and the chair moved out to the veranda. It was the ideal place to enjoy the music of frogs and Rainbird sprinklers on soft summer evenings.

The grandkids came along, and our daughter hauled the rocker to her house. Being bashed by Tonka trucks and exposed to weather on the veranda had left it in need of a facelift, so she sanded off the scars and refinished it. The chair spent some fruitful years rocking babies again.

In retirement, it suffered the indignity of being the "extra chair," brought out only when there were more people than places to put them.

Last year I made it a seat cushion, back pad and matching footstool in Christmas fabric, and it enjoyed the holiday with the family again.

When Shawn and Becky were here for our granddaughter's wedding in June, they took the rocking chair back with them. It was time for it to return to duty.

Now it's a satiny light moss green, the perfect contrast for Shawn's vivid paintings on the walls. No pastel lambs for baby Jasper. Secure in Mommy or Daddy's arms, his eyes lock onto the bright primary colors and slashing lines of the pictures.

Maybe in future years the old rocker will be a delicate pink, or its original golden oak. But for right now, moss green is just right. And I think it's happy to welcome baby Jasper, and to be restored to active service after years of idleness.

Just like me!

* Donna Scofield is a freelance writer whose articles, columns and short fiction stories have appeared in numerous national and regional magazines. The longtime Yakima resident is retired after working as a secretary and office manager in Yakima School District elementary schools. She has raised two sons and two daughters.

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