To understand this entry you must first visit Dennis Jerz's Literacy Weblog and take a look at his comfy chair . What bitterswet memories that photograph brought back. I once had a chair exactly like it. Well, not one with the same fabric pattern (thank God). My chair was...I was about to say "plum" colored but I guess prune colored would be more accurate.

It was one of those stray pieces of furniture that arrives unexpectedly and stays, like a cat. Notice, by the way, how the arms flare outward. One afternoon my then wife called me at work. She'd been to a yard sale and now she couldn't get into the house. The chair she'd bought, with its generous arms, had got wedged in the doorway. She couldn't get the chair in or out or get past it.

These sorts of things were always happening. Little wonder I wasn't a favorite employee. "Sorry, Have to leave early. Wife's locked herself out with a comfy chair. You know how it is."

Between us we dislodged the bulky and balky piece of furniture and it took up residence. Truly, it was the world's best reading chair. Just look at it. There are no edges. You could sit any which way, put your feet over the arm, or sit crosswise using one arm for a backrest. (Might account for my back problem)

Years later we moved to a new house. Wouldn't you know it -- the doorways were a half inch narrower. No amount of pushing, pulling, or removing hinges, doors and bits of doorframes, (or unscrewing the poor comfy chair's tiny legs) would suffice to allow the chair inside. The movers, who usually have a way of turning and twisting furniture through other dimensions to fit it through openings which are too small according to the physical laws of this universe, were beaten.

One of the movers took a liking to the chair, though. He came back later and hauled it away in his pickup truck. So at least it had a good home.