The stool comes home

Have you ever had the thrill of giving a gift that cost you little but had inestimable value to the recipient? I did this year…and I have the photo to prove it.

Now if you zoom in on this picture, you’ll probably raise an eyebrow and think, ‘Okaaaaay…it’s a cruddy old stool. What’s the big whoop?’ Well, you weren't there to see my Mom’s big grin. This stool has deep meaning for my family.

It sat in my grandparents’ back room, next to the low back sink, for 70 years or more, waiting for its chance to seat little boys who needed haircuts, grandchildren who had a sink project, and the odd-man-out forced to eat at the breadboard because the kitchen table was full. It’s been a step-stool, a naughty-stool, a catch-your-breath stool. And as far as we can remember, it’s always been painted white with little bands of black on each leg.

We lost track of it in 2003 during a public auction of my grandparents’ possessions. The stool should never have gone up for bid, but it did, we lost it, and we’ve been fighting mad and just sick over it ever since.

But that’s the beauty of a small community. Things disappear then reappear when word gets out. Someone knows someone who knows someone else who can solve the problem. In this case, I called a cousin, the cousin called the auctioneer, the auctioneer tracked down the buyer, and the negotiating began.

And on Friday, December 22^nd, three days before Christmas and about two years after the search began, Grandma’s stool re-entered Schaub possession, never to leave again. There was much rejoicing.

Comments

[Bugsy]

When is the stool going to be returned next to the sink? (The sink misses it!)

[David]

Hooray for the stool! I am glad we got it back.