Wrote this after my grandma died. Would like to hear what others think.

"Are you ready John?" his wife asked. 

"Yes just a minute," he replied. 

John looked around the room where is mother had spent her last few years. It was an old hospital converted into a nursing home. There were two twin beds and a curtain that could be drawn down the center of the room for privacy. On his mother's side there were pictures on the wall of family and religious leaders. There was a night stand with a few precious knickknacks. In the corner there was an old rocking chair, one of the items allowed to stay with his mother in the nursing home. She wouldn't have gone without that old chair it was a link to the past that she could hold onto. When she sat in her chair she would rock forward and back for hours and she was able to lift the fog of Alzheimer's. Mary could talk about her entire life without forgetting a thing when she sat in her chair. Now she was gone and her old chair remained. 

John walked out the room and stopped at the nurse's desk to tell them when he would return to collect the rest of his mother's things. John left the nursing home and as his wife quietly drove home, John looked out the window thinking about that old chair and his mother sitting in it telling stories.

Mary, John's mother, received the chair when she was married to her husband William forty two years ago. William was a handsome man, tall with jet black hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders. Mary had taken to him as soon as she met him. William had moved from the city to help his grandparents on their farm. He didn't know much about farming and Mary was always there to help him when he didn't know what he was doing. They grew together and inevitably they married.

The rocking chair was a wedding gift from Mary's grandfather. He built the chair for Mary using the finest wood he could find.  He had to make a special trip to a town fifty miles away to get the wood and supplies he needed. He worked for weeks on that chair, cutting a shaping the rockers and turning the spindles for the legs, arms and back. He was an experienced wood worker, most of the houses in the area had been touched by his talent and he was well known for his craftsmanship. His granddaughter's gift however was very special.  He made sure that the chair rocked perfectly, no wobble or bumps it felt like gliding on air. He made the legs, seat, arms and back sturdy so it would last many years. He carved tall granite peaks that towered over a large meadow where elk grazed next to a stream into the head rest of the chair. The scene was not just any mountain or meadow; it was the place that Mary had spent many summers camping with her grandfather and the rest of the family. He knew that Mary may move away or at least become too busy to go to the mountains every year. He carved the scene just as they both would remember so where ever she went or for however long she was gone she would have that place with her always. 

The day of Mary's wedding was a warm fall day in October. She and her husband William were married in a grove of aspens on her grandfather's farm. Golden and deep red leaves on all the trees. Mary's grandfather had constructed a gazebo at the end of a small clearing in the middle of the grove. The gazebo was built with knotty pine that he had collected throughout the summer. Four pillars held up an open roof of vines that formed a dome. There were dried and fresh flowers woven into the vines wound down the pillars to the ground.

After the ceremony friends and family enjoyed a dance and dinner in the large barn.  Mary's grandfather had moved the animals out the day before and he and William and some of the other neighbors cleaned the barn and prepared the floor and set up a make shift stage and tables using straw bales and planks. After they were done the women took over. Mary's mother, grandmother, and sisters made the old barn look very festive. They hung fresh and dried flowers on the posts in the barn and hung colorful quilts behind the stage area where the local musical talent would play. The dinner was lovely and the night was long. Mary and William where congratulated throughout the night and they danced and sang. 

Towards the end of the night Mary's grandfather announced he had something for Mary. He sat Mary down and told her to close her eyes. He and William went and retrieved the rocking chair. Mary's grandfather had covered it in a blanket to hide for a short time the full beauty of it from the others. He and William set the chair down in front of Mary and her grandfather pulled off the blanket and told her open her eyes. Mary opened her eyes and she saw the wonderful gift that her grandfather spent hours making for her. She reached out and ran her hands along the arms to the seat. They where smooth as silk. She saw the back and the carving of the mountain scene and tears began to build in her eyes. Her grandfather pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to Mary. 

"It's beautiful grandpa," Mary said drying her eyes. 

"I made it for you relax in and rock my great grandchildren in Mary," Her grandfather said. 

"You must have spent hours on it," Mary said. 

"It was worth every minute Mary," He replied. 

"The carving on the back is perfect."  

"Now where ever you go Mary, whatever you do, you will have a part of me and the mountains we love with you always," He said. 

By this time there was not a dry eye in the room. William told the band to play and suggested that Mary and her grandfather have the next dance. Mary and her grandfather danced in the center of the floor while the others watched. 

Mary leaned and put her head on his shoulder and said, "Thank you for the chair and for the day everything is perfect grandpa I love you."

"I love you to Mary," He replied.

The years past and the rocking chair that Mary's grandfather had crafted with love and care stood the test of time. It saw many moves from to the city to the country and back again. It helped Mary sooth to sleep her children. The chair held up during the war, all of the nervous rocking waiting for William to return home. The chair was there to comfort Mary when William left her for the last time. He would not return but he would be waiting for her though, on the other side. 

The chair went with her to the nursing home to see her though the long hours of constant rocking. John often wondered if she was marking time, reliving her life in her head, waiting to rejoin William on the other side. Finally Mary's time did come. Mary had rejoined William on the other side and now the chair belonged to john. 

The old chair found itself in John's garage. John had put it there not knowing what to do with it.  It had stood the test of time well but it did have a few signs of wear. One of the support spindles on the bottom hand come loose and rocking in the chair was no longer smooth and maybe dangerous if done too long. The arms had become loose also, they would need some attention. 

The chair sat in John's garage forgotten until one day John knew what he was going to do with it. John would come home from work every night and work on the chair for a few hours. John had a deadline and he was going to finish. He refinished the chair and returned the chair to its original beauty. Then the day came for the chair to begin its new life.

John's daughter, Emily, had told him six months earlier that she was going to get married. Today was the day that John's daughter was going to begin her new life and his mother's old chair was going find a new home. 

John and Jacob, Emily's new husband brought out the chair covered with a blanket.  Emily's eyes were closed as she sat waiting. 

John pulled off the blanket and said, "Open your eyes Emily." 

Not a dry eye in the room.