3 CHAIRS

If you go out shopping for a dining room or kitchen set you typically will find that they are equipped to seat four people as evidenced by the four chairs. Sometimes due to space, people will only set up 3 chairs with one section of the table placed firmly against the wall. This is not the designers intention for the set but it will suffice. Yet, you always keep the extra chair near by just in case you need it or find that you have more space in the future.

When I look at my dining room set I can't help but recognize that one chair is missing. It wasn't always this way. At one time there were four fully functional chairs. The one chair that is missing was broken the same day my heart was broken. To add insult to injury, one of the remaining chairs, though functional, has some issues. Funny, kind of like me.

The kitchen set my wife took with her to her new place only has 3 chairs as well. This particular chair wasn't broken in one moment but over time. The screws were coming lose unbeknownst to me and by the time I figured it out it was too late, broken. I guess that's similar to my wife. She was breaking and I didn't know it.

Now the 3 chairs are a reminder of what once was, what is, and never again shall be. It is a cruel symbol of how things were meant to be and how things truly are. This is a reflection of much of life. There is a way that things were designed to be, the way they are, and the pain of knowing what will never again be. There are 3 chairs where there should be 4. I lost one.