for odin’s second birthday we decided to give him a simple rocking chair with the hope that maybe someday soon he himself would choose on some lazy afternoon to while away the time rocking himself gently while reading a good book. because what toddler doesn’t enjoy uninterrupted periods of rocking while reading while his parent’s get a little free time to accomplish the long list of chores. uh. huh. well, we’ll see about that. he does like sitting in it, but there’s not a whole lot of self directed reading going on yet. but maybe soon.

although the rocking chair is often considered a uniquely american invention with benjamin franklin occasionally being erroneously cited as its inventor, it likely originated in england the early to mid 1700’s before being introduced to the rowdy colonists around 1750. and while we’ll probably never know for certain how much of the american revolutionary war was plotted while sitting in rockers, we do know that british major general william tryon sat on a rocking chair on a hill in norwalk, connecticut while watching the city burn to the ground. and the north dakota daughters of the american revolution had the foresight to preserve general george custer’s personal rocking chair which perhaps he sat in while pondering his strategy for the battle of little big horn.

so, rocking chairs aren’t just for little old ladies sipping lemonade on the front porch and i guess someday we might be surprised, for better or for worse, with what Grand Plans odin concocts while rocking away the time.