The chair that came back

I had just been writing another post but had to stop and begin this one instead, because one of the weirdest experiences of my life just happened. It's about, of all things, a broken chair.

We used to have a pair of kitchen chairs that my partner had had forever before dating me. They served us well but started to get a bit old, and were starting to fall apart; the fasteners that held them together were getting loose and we didn't know how to fix them. One almost fell out from under my partner one night as we were sitting down to dinner, so we then decided it was time to let them go. They weren't completely trashed, we figured someone who had a workshop could fix them up, so we left them by the side of the road with a sign that said "Free" on them. They were gone the next day and they faded into memory. This happened probably at least two years ago. 

I had no reason to think of them again until last night, when I was looking through old photos for something else, and in the same batch of pics I was looking through, an older pic of our kitchen popped up, taken around the time we did some rearranging & cleaning.

I scrolled past the pic, a few of my brain cells firing on "Huh, oh yeah, those old chairs. I remember them." This photo was taken on 6th September, 2017. I acknowledged the memory, and then I moved on to whatever else I was doing.

And here, now, less than 24 hours later...

About half an hour ago, my partner came back in from taking out the trash to find that one of the chairs, one of THOSE chairs, had....returned. 

To the same spot we had left it by the road a couple years ago in front of our apartment.

With a sign on it saying "Free." In different handwriting.

I had made no mention of the photo of the chairs that I had literally just found the night before.

I asked my partner to bring it up to our porch, because I had to see it to believe it.

I mean, I haven't thought about these chairs in years. And less than 24 hours after seeing that old photo above, this just SHOWS UP.

Fucking HELL.

And the weird thing is?

It appears to be intact -- was it repaired?? 
Who the fuck would have done it - chair elves??

I don't even know how to wrap my head around this one.

There's gotta be an explanation for this, right?

I swear to Christ I am not making any of this up. 

Maybe someone in my partner's family did this? I don't know. They are not the practical joking type. We're going to ask my partner's dad, our landlord, if he can watch the security cam footage. I kinda hope there's NOT a logical explanation for this. It CAN'T be one of those same chairs, can it??

It was a dark and stormy afternoon

 Well, shit, I've only been back in town a couple of days and all hell breaks loose.

Today started off relatively uneventful; the friend I'm staying with had to work today and I brought my laptop with me so I could work as well -- one of the big perks of being a remote freelance designer.

It was HOT today, I mean HOT. Summers in CT are extra special because humidity always makes it feel hotter than thermometer says it is. Heat index was probably 105 F. Thankfully, my old room has an AC in the window so I was comfortable. 

I was about to join a Zoom meeting today a little before 6 PM when I realized it seemed kinda dark out there. Storm clouds were rolling in, and it soon started to rain. Summer thunderstorms are common as hell around here, and I was actually pretty psyched about it. We don't typically get t-storms in western WA, but summers are dry and don't usually get above 90 -- the conditions for storms just aren't there.

My old room is on the second floor so I had a good vantage point for watching the storm. It seemed peaceful enough at first but quickly intensified. Needless to say, I cancelled my Zoom appointment. 

Thankfully we were all home at the time. My friend and I had just gotten back from an errand about an hour before when the sun was blazing and no sign of a storm. The wind started to REALLY pick up and the rain was coming down in torrents. The lightning was right overhead and getting crazy. 

The streets started to flash flood a bit, branches and debris flying everywhere, the house was shaken a few times by the wind, trees were bending in half. Roof shingles and pieces of siding were strewn in the street. I started to feel a bit nervous about it, wondering if we should go to the basement for safety. The strength of the winds made it feel like we were in the path of a small tornado. 

I don't recall ever witnessing a storm that got that intense that quickly, and we've gone through hurricanes, ice storms, Nor'easters, and plenty of strong thunderstorms. The damage from this event is more extensive than most any other storm I've personally lived through. I haven't heard any official confirmation yet, but there are rumors that a small tornado moved through the area. It passed pretty quickly at least; the wind and rains seemed to stop rather abruptly. It was an eerie feeling. We went outside to walk around the hood a bit to assess the damage. 

A bunch of our neighbors were outside as well, everyone making sure everything was okay. Sirens in the air and reports on the scanner showed us that we were pretty damn lucky on our street, and relatively unscathed. 

Some trees, including one in the park next door, were completely blown over. Our power went out for a few hours afterward. We heard many reports of fires and downed power lines, crushed vehicles, blown-out windows, destroyed gardens, flattened gazebos, and damaged homes. I don't think anyone was hurt though, what a relief. It was a fucking scary storm. 

 

The air temperature cooled off considerably, though, so at least we weren't dying in the heat. The skies cleared up gradually, in unsettling neon shades as the sun set.

 

We lit some candles and sat outdoors for a bit and enjoyed the relative quiet, listening to the night bugs and the hum of a nearby generator. It was actually quite peaceful then, despite the inconvenience of the power being out. 

 

Enjoy this 20 seconds of New England suburb summer night sounds.

 

 

It was a pretty crazy experience, but we're all okay. The power was restored close to midnight, hopefully it will remain. As I type this, I hear more thunder rumbling in the distance. It is a dark and stormy night...