One day I sat myself in Lore's chair. Just to see what she was seeing when she sat there. Like putting yourself in someone else's shoes, to find out what it is they're experiencing.
Well, I learned a few things.....
1. All of the padding in the chair was flat and worn out. I could feel the metal rails underneath.
2. The chair cover was old and really needed to be washed.
3. In her line of vision she was looking at a blank wall. Beside her on the desk, there were nice pictures , but she couldn't see those when she sat down.
I put some layers of cardboard underneath the cushions to cover the metal raids and made a plan to restuff the chair pad. But this had to be a covert operation done under the cover of darkness. Lore would never agree to washing the cushion.
One night, after she went to bed, I had a plan. Wash the cushions and then restuff them with the new padding I had bought. Use the same fabric and she won't notice. I detached the cushions from the chair and put then on a gentle cycle in the machine. When I opened up the lid of the washing machine and pulled out the cushion, the fabric was so old it had completely shredded and the padding had all crumbled. What a mess! It was completely ruined. I panicked. I was so in trouble. How could I make this right before morning? Lore gets very testy about anyone touching her stuff. I could hear it now.... "Who said you could....? Who gave you permission....? What gives you the right...?" Once she caught me coming out of her room with her laundry and made me put it back.
This could ruin a whole day. This chair could be my undoing. She would never trust me again.
What to do? I rummaged thru the linen closet looking for some fabric and found a dark colored bedspread that looked similar to the ruined fabric. This would do. Thank you Krsna! I set to work with the sewing machine and covered the new cushions with the found fabric. It looked ok. Really close.
Let's see what happens in the morning. That's the first thing that she does ... is sit in the chair.
Next morning, she headed straight for the favorite chair and sat down.... never said a word or noticed anything different..never batted an eye.
So, now I'm feeling a little more confident and bolder. The next thing to fix, was to put something in her line of vision. I moved all of the pictures that were on the table beside 'The Chair'.... Nice pictures of her son. One very large seated portrait and a few 8x10s.
Back to the sitting place to test drive the situation. I can't see the large picture because the sun is reflecting off the glass. I'm only seeing glare. Quick fix, put the photo in front of the glass. Nice. Now she can see some beautiful pictures of her son.
Many times since, she has commented how much she likes to look at those pictures that are right in front of her.
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