When is a chair not a chair?

Did you ever hear that joke (or riddle or whatever): "When is a door not a door? When it's ajar."? Well, I ran into another situation like that this weekend. When a chair is not a chair.

We went to several baby stores this afternoon. We were on no easy mission. We were searching for the perfect rocker/recliner chair combination for Connor's room. We looked at the wooden Dutailier rockers and pretty much fell in love with them. Then we saw several other apholstered chairs and fell in love with those, too. This wasn't going to be easy, folks.

We (I) wanted something with a high enough back so that we could sleep in the chair and so that Dennis could sit in it comfortably, too, since he'll obviously be up with Connor many-a-night. A lot of the 'nursery chairs' have short backs. Not sure why. Maybe more short people are reproducing than tall people. A reclining option was a requirement but I wasn't too particular about whether or not it was a glider or a recliner. Movement is movement, right? Guess we'll have to wait and see on that one. On top of these few requirements, a neutral color was in order and I preferred something that wasn't ugly.

In each store, we were told that these chairs could EASILY be used in other rooms in the house (most likely an attempt by the sales person to justify the cost). They were all VERSATILE and LONG-LASTING. Of course they were.

That is when I realized that a chair is not always a chair. In this particular situation, a chair for the nursery is like a bridesmaid dress. Everyone says it can be worn again and the bridesmaid may actually believe that herself. But, she never wears it again. Because, afterall, it's a bridesmaid dress. No one wears those things again.

So we purchased a La-Z-Boy bridesmaid dress today. Hopefully Connor likes it... as we will obviously be using it for all of eternity since it is SO versatile. AND long-lasting.