Friday, October 11, 2013

My Aunt's Giant Chair has became a Texas Roadside Attraction

Ironically, as much as I love tourism, travel, and unique things, my aunt has her VERY OWN ROADSIDE
Photo by:  Texas Forest Trail Region
The chair is 10 ft tall, 6 ft wide and 5 ft deep!
ATTRACTION.  A few days ago she shared an Instagram photo that someone had posted of the chair, I thought oh man, I need to share this unique yet funny family story. 


 My Aunt shares her story of the chair:  

About 16 years ago (1996 or 97) I saw a picture of a BIG chair in Country Magazine. I told Dan I'd love to have one like it to put out beside our swimming pool. Probably a year and a half went by. On Christmas Eve in 1998 I was coming home from Wal-mart (family joke in that also :)) with stocking stuffers. I drove up in our driveway, I thought, "who stacked all that lumber in the driveway"? Then my eyes focused in on it and I said, "That's my BIG chair!!" Dan had had it made for me for Christmas. 

It's made from solid cedar and he'd given the proper dimensions to the man he wanted to build it because he wanted it to look like a real chair. (I called it my Paul Bunyan chair.) When Dan told the man how big he wanted it to be and that it was for his wife, the man said, "Just how big IS your wife, anyway"??? 

My cousin and her baby in the chair. 
The chair stayed in our back yard for years and was also used in several parades over the years. We had my nephew's 7th birthday IN the chair. The last time it was in a parade was when my son in law borrowed it for the junior high cheerleaders to ride in on a float. It was getting pretty old by then and I told him he could just keep it. He put it in a vacant lot just outside of  Cushing Texas, but before you get to Sacul, on Hwy 20.    Cars stop nearly every day and people get out and take pictures of it, it has truly became an attraction.  

The chair has been featured in 2 Texas magazines...once with the question "Does anyone know the story of this big chair"? and the next time with my story that I wrote and sent them. It had its own Facebook page for a while with pictures of all the people who'd sat in it. I've always liked seeing the chair...it reminds me of how much Dan loved me...and of the funny things we did together and the practical jokes we played during the 33 years we were married. We shared a BIG love for the Lord and for each other...and the chair symbolizes some of that.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Your Abilities....Your Distractions

 You have 500 to 800 abilities.  What are you doing with them?   This is a touchy topic for me.  It makes me rather sad to think about how m...