I just got a new desk chair. All of these years I have never really wanted a traditional desk chair. I have used dining room chairs mostly, I love dining chairs and I have too many of them. I love to put lots of mismatched chairs around the table whenever we have company. So I just collect them and use them all over the house. But I have reconfigured my office and finally decided I need an actual desk chair in order to swivel between desks. Before, my desks were far enough apart I just used two different chairs thus using two of my multitude of dining chairs. But now the desks are positioned where I sit between them and can no longer fit two chairs and I need to swivel. So off we went to the office supply store.
As always I knew just what I wanted and I went straight to the smallest brown chair (FYI most are black and HUGE and would not match in my office.) We bought it, loaded it up and brought it home. It was in a box that seemed too small for a chair so I knew I had some assembling in my future.
Sure enough, the chair was in pieces and my husband, Tim could not find instructions. As we women know you need instructions, but for men they are only an unnecessary reason to have to read and a way to stifle creativity. So we proceeded. After a few pieces were together I found the instructions. I think maybe Tim did not look very hard for them after all. I went back to check them for what we had done so far and then continued. In the packet of hardware was an Allen wrench and bolts. I began to put the bolts in place and tighten them with the Allen wrench provided. And then I heard the sound of power tools and although I tried to not look up, the revving of the drill kept coming at me.
Let me explain that I do not take the easy way out. I do not use mops. I think the only way to get a floor clean is to get on my hands and knees with a sponge and really clean the floor. I hand polish my hardwoods with a soft cloth and I hand scrub the tile. When I was assigned the task lighting for Heartbreak House (a Shaw play we did my second year) as my project in Stagecraft at school, I drilled the holes for the sconces with an antique brace and bit that was a prop on the stage. Several people laughed at me, but to me it was soothing to not have all of the noise of a modern drill and it made me feel connected to the past to use that old tool.
My friends and I have laughed many times that we can get a project done with a kitchen knife and a bobbie pin in the time it takes a man to gather all his power tools. When we hear the whir of those power tools we know we are pretty much out of the equation and that “the man” has taken over the process. Now don’t get me wrong, I have used a drill and power saw many times and I have a vacuum and other “power tools” in the house. I will say I rarely use the microwave and I prefer hand sewing to my machine, but I have them and I am not afraid to use them. However, I am all about the calm and the quiet and I love to feel like I used my muscles to connect with what ever project I am doing.
So as Tim occasionally revved up the drill or pushed it in my direction, I just kept tightening the bolts with my little Allen wrench. I am sure if I worked all day doing such things, I would welcome the power tools. And I know that, once again, I do not do things the way most people do. I savor moments that others are only too happy to try to just get done quickly. I slowly smell the fresh laundry as it comes out of the dryer, even though I actually hate doing the laundry. When I get the groceries home (grocery shopping!! My most hated chore!!) I take the muffins I like out of the bakery plastic and arrange them under a glass cloche, I put the fruit in a beautiful bowl on the table, I take raisins out of the box and put them in an air tight container, I take the granola bars out of the box and pile them in a bowl on the sideboard for easy access and I arrange flowers for the whole house before I consider the groceries put away. If I have to do this stuff, I might as well be artistic about it.
So now I am sitting in my new chair and it is pretty comfortable. It is much softer than a dining room chair and it rolls and turns. I probably should have gotten one before now. But I am never one to take the easy way out.
