When my brother and I started thinking about what items of Mom’s we each wanted, my mind immediately went to a few special, sentimental items that I knew would remind me of Mom and things we did together. One of those items that immediately came to mind was a couch she had in her living room. The couch rarely got used – she had another couch with recliners that she thought was more comfortable for everyday seating. I was probably the only one who thought it was comfortable – I’d curl up on it for naps when I was home visiting from NC and I also liked it because it was sized to where I could sit with my feet actually touching the floor! 🙂

But……the REAL reason I wanted it wasn’t because it was my nap couch on the occasional visit……it was because of the story behind it! It has a story that can be categorized as a true LEGEND! Whenever I would sit on that couch, I would think of the back story and smile…..and Mom and I would laugh about it!

So, here goes the legend of the English Flowered Couch – THE couch!

Mom saw this couch in a JC Penney catalog and fell in love with it! She never saw it in person or sat on it or even cared if it was going to be comfortable or not! She had always wanted an English Flowered Couch and this one was PERFECT – just the right colors and style and pattern – she couldn’t stop thinking about it – she had to have it! So……she called JC Penney and ordered it over the phone – sight unseen – and told them to deliver it! It came in a day or two and she was so excited for it to get there! The guys unloaded it off the truck and got it into the front door and through the dining room and that’s where all Mom’s hopes and dreams of owning an English Flowered Couch were crushed……the couch would not fit down the hallway to get it in to the living room! The guys tried EVERYTHING – it was NOT going down that hallway! They took it around back to go through the patio room…..got it through the door, into the patio room, but, again…..it came to a screeching halt because it would not fit through the two doors it needed to go through to get into the living room! There was one more option – a storage room off the living room with an outside access……but, that, too, was a lost cause – that door has a smaller opening than the normal doorway, so no way it was going to fit through it! So, after trying a lot of different options and doing everything they could, they left – defeated – with the couch back on the truck – on its way back to JC Penney!

Mom was so upset! She sat in the living room thinking about it……and looking at the doorways between the patio room and the den and the den and the living room…….she thought there MUST be a way to get it in that way – no hallways to contend with……but, what to do about the two doorways!!!??? And, she finally got a brilliant idea! Charlie – her husband – worked second shift. When he got home from work about 1:00 am, she was waiting up for him to tell him her solution to her problem! After she went through the whole delivery fiasco, she went right in to how she was going to make it work! She told him she wanted him to cut big archways through both doorways – one was already a large opening, but it had sliding patio doors, so that was easy – just remove the doors and finish off the archway. The other door was a small walk through arch that had to be widened. So, Charlie – the great sport and handy guy he was, went right out to his workshop, got the tools he needed, and proceeded to execute her plan! Within a couple hours, the sliding doors were gone and he had taken a chain saw to open up the other doorway…..that wasn’t as easy as it sounded cause there were electrical wires that needed to be rerouted for light switches and outlets near the old doorway. The openings were done…..the plan was to finish them off so they looked good when the weekend came and he could get the time, lumber, stain, etc, he needed to fix them up right!

The next morning, Mom called JC Penney and told them to bring it back! They came back the next day and were shocked at what she had done to get this special couch that she wanted so very badly! They just stared at the rough cut openings and laughed and laughed……when they finally got control of themselves, they brought the couch around the back of the house, in the patio door, and right on through both openings and into the living room! Mom was THRILLED!!!

And, so……now it is mine……and every time I curl up on it to read or watch TV or take a nap, I will think of this wonderful story and of Mom and how she would do just about anything to get that couch……and how it was my duty to keep it in the family and enjoy it for the rest of my days!

And…..to make it even better……I have my OWN story of how it got in to MY home! I have a small foyer with a chandelier and a stairway and a tight turn immediately inside the front door into the living room! It took my brother and my nephew some fancy maneuvering to get it in the living room – it began to look like it wasn’t going to make it! We were originally going to take it in through my patio doors, but the side that slides doesn’t open wide enough (just like Mom’s sliding doors didn’t), so it HAD to come in through the front door – which was plenty wide enough, but that tight turn, stairway, and chandelier and the fact that it is a little longer than a normal couch (so it wouldn’t stand up on end and clear the chandelier and archway into the living room) made it quite the challenge……good thing that there isn’t much chance I’ll ever want or need to get it back out that way – I have no intention of leaving my little slice of paradise if I have anything to say about it! hehehe

Here it is……isn’t it a beauty??? I do love it so much! Think I’ll go curl up on it to close out the day with a few chapters of my book! Good night!