An old Red Chair (Beginner)

By Lee Nan-hee

I have an old red chair made of iron. It is one of a set for an eating table with six chairs. To my memory, it has been in the kitchen of my house ever since I was about 11 years old. It is almost more than 40 years ago. The chair once had a kind of red fabric. Its color has changed on account of its long years. But its frame and function as a chair are still incredibly good. It was, perhaps, the only furniture that I have had for so long. When I lived apart from my parents in my 40s, I had that chair in my small room.

When I look at that chair, it reminds me of my school days including elementary, middle and high school. At that time, I lived in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. My family and I used to sit in those robust red chairs when we ate meals every day. My father was a silent person. He used to say that we should not talk a lot while eating. That is the way he had been raised and educated by his own grandparents from his childhood. It must have been due to Confucianism. My mother was also very silent; she did not speak out loud.

One day she cooked curry rice for us. It was the most delicious food that I had ever eaten at that time. My mother did not eat a lot. To compare, she ate like a bird. No one in my family ate like a horse. I would read books or just have daydreams sitting in that red chair. I was such an ignorant and innocent little girl. What a wonderful and surprising thing! That red old chair brings back whole memories of my family, childhood and school days.

My family moved to Seoul when I entered university. It was such a new and drastic change in my life. New friends, new learning experiences in new circumstances at the university in Seoul. I could not see my old friends often, most of whom were still living in the Suwon area. In my new house, in the new kitchen, my family and I still sat in those old red chairs when we had meals every day. Once, my mother's parents, namely, my maternal grandparents, visited our house. My mother was busy preparing and cooking for her parents in the kitchen. She was bustling near the eating table and red chairs.

Last year, I made up my mind to dump that old red chair, when I moved to this current house. Its red fabric was torn and the white, gray color of the iron frame got dirty. It seemed that it became a useless, heavy object. Now, there is no red old chair in my room anymore. It felt like saying goodbye to one of my old friends. I think about the old saying from the Bible, "There is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to uproot, a time to build, a time to tear down."