For all of her adult life, one of my mother's favorite hobbies has been moving furniture - as in rearranging furniture. She can't stop. Chances are, when you visit the house it will look different than the last time you were there.
My father grew up in an unchanging household. Furniture was in the same place and position for decades and decades. Not so in the house he shares with my mother.
One of the oft told stories in our family shows the downside of a furniture moving obsession.
Years ago, when my brother was a baby, my father, still dressed in his suit and tie from work, took him upstairs to put him to bed. Unbeknownst to him, my mother had decided to put a chair in the hall outside my brother's room. My father tripped over the chair in the hall and went sliding across the hardwood floor of the bedroom on his knees. He managed to keep baby Andy safely cradled in his arms the entire time but wore holes in the knees of his pants from the slide.
I didn't inherit my mother's fascination with moving furniture. My house stays pretty much as-is. In fact, I've been known to keep items for years in the exact place they were dropped (with no thought or intention) during the initial move-in. I just don't have the moving furniture fever.
Today I discovered that the moving furniture gene is alive and well - it's just skipped a generation.
Recently a local store had cat beds on sale. I picked up one for Champ figuring it would be an improvement on the blanket-covered box I had made for him.
I thought the knee-hole in my office desk was a perfect spot for a bed. There's a radiator in the kneehole and he would be close by while I worked. Champ and I call the radiators "furnaces" - and he loves to lie next to one when I turn up the heat. He needs to warm his chilly paws in this old, drafty house.
Champ checked out the bed in the afternoon and went off elsewhere. Later, I was at my desk and noticed that he was lying in his new bed.
I ran an errand and later was back at my desk in my office. My cell phone rang in the kitchen and I jumped up to get it.
When I got to the hall there was Champ. In his bed. In the hall.
I'm still stunned by it. Champ had taken his new bed from the office and brought it to the spot he preferred, next to his favorite "furnace" in the hall.
Yup - it seems Champ has inherited his Nan's furniture moving hobby. Who knew?!
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