Family

I saw an advertisement in our local Facebook Marketplace the other day for a red bench.  Amish made, sturdy, in excellent condition and only three twenty-dollar bills.  The memories started flooding in.  I’ll have a birthday soon and my memory isn’t always that reliable but I just knew that, somewhere in time, we’d had a red bench.  I contacted the owner and we picked up the bench right after my eye doctor appointment last Friday.  It was perfect.  The color is a gorgeous burgundy red.  It is sturdy and I have no doubt Amish made.  She said it used to belong to her parents.  They’re probably about my age.  We’re the right generation for the Colonial America look.  I love the bench.  It’s sitting in the dining room right under the framed photo of Terrace Hill, the Iowa governor’s mansion.  The print is addressed to Doug’s parents and personally signed by a former governor of Iowa

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Below:  After some looking through old photographs research, I have some answers.

We did have a bench, probably purchased 50+ years ago when Bill and I bought our first sofa and chair.

First, it was painted black with gold trim around the wooden legs.

When we moved to the little house on Cherrydale, the bench went in the hallway.

Here’s Christy playing dress-up with her little high heels and earrings walking by the bench.

A couple of houses and a few years later, the bench has been antiqued blue and it’s sitting in the kitchen in Ellendale.

Christy holding her baby brother Justin.

And with four of us (Bill, Justin, Christy and me) sitting on the same bench…

Below:  Quite a few years later…and I was right.  We DID have a red bench! 

The same one painted red this time, sitting on the porch of our house in Terre Haute, Indiana! 

Bill with his mom, Bobbie.

Guess my memory isn’t so bad after all!