My elderly neighbor, Mr. Dalen, asked me to buy a few plastic chairs—the kind with holes in the middle. I couldn’t find those exact ones, so I brought home the regular kind. He thanked me, but I could tell something was wrong. I brushed it off at first. After all, they were just chairs. But Mr. Dalen wasn’t someone who fussed over nothing. He was in his late 70s, quiet, still wearing the same fishing hat even though he didn’t fish anymore.
Since his wife Nadine passed, I’d helped him with little chores. So his reaction kept bothering me.
When I asked if he wanted me to return them, he finally told me the truth.
“You know what the holes are for?” he asked.
I guessed wrong.
“Rain,” he said.
He explained that he and Nadine used to sit outside under an umbrella, listening to the rain. The holes kept the seats from filling with water, so they could stay out there longer. Those chairs weren’t just chairs—they were memories. A few days later, his mailbox overflowed. His lawn went untouched. He didn’t answer his door. I called a wellness check, and they found him collapsed from dehydration. He recovered, but it shook me.
While he was in the hospital, I searched everywhere until I found those exact chairs. When he came home and saw them in his yard, he sat down quietly and let the light drizzle fall through the holes—just like before. In that moment, I realized it was never about plastic chairs. It was about holding onto small pieces of someone you’ve loved and lost.