“Say ‘goodbye’ to Patriarchy,” said my husband as he passed me the captain’s chair.

1977, a very special wedding gift from my parents. A suitably expensive Roxton maple dining room set; 4 chairs and a table. We have gathered around that table for the last 39 years.  We still love the table.  Whoever designed the chairs sure didn’t factor in how difficult the spindles would be to clean and how the knobs dig into the back of your hips.

About 4 years ago we bought new dining room chairs, finally giving up the uncomfortable chairs. We stowed them away in our garage. I hung onto them because I ‘didn’t want to break up the set’. Old thinking.

Only one of the chairs had arms. The Captain’s Chair. That’s where the Daddy sat. When my husband said “Say ‘goodbye’ to Patriarchy,” I had to laugh. We had had those chairs for nearly 40 years and that small fact of that one chair being the preferred chair hadn’t hit me so poignantly until just today.

Today I said goodbye to old thinking and sitting on the edge of patriarchy.