How a fish chair tattoo inspired a Facebook group's 300-mile journey
At a second hand store in Baltimore, we found a first rate fish story.
Last week, someone posted a picture of a bizarre chair on a Facebook page called "Weird Second Hand Finds That Just Need To Be Shared." When Syracuse auto mechanic Emily DelFavero saw that chair, she just about had a cow — because she had that chair tattooed on her calf.
The truly amazing part? DelFavero never owned the chair. She saw it just once years ago and felt strangely compelled to have it tattooed.
"That's the fate about it," DelFavero said. "I saw that chair and it was everything for me."
"You make it seem almost mystical," CBS News said.
"I believe that it is," DelFavero responded.
She posted a picture of her tattoo on the Facebook page, prompting surprise from other group members.
"I was like, 'Oh my God,'" one group member said.
Hundreds of women in the group felt a call to action. "It belonged to her," one member said.
"A chair like that and a tattoo that matches – it's kismet, it's serendipity, it just has to happen," another said.
Even though none of these women had ever met, they started a GoFundMe, raising $600 to buy the chair for a total stranger. Then, they devised a plan to personally deliver it.
First, Jen Garrard picked it up in Baltimore. She drove it to Meredith, who drove it to Maryann, who drove it to Jacque, who drove it to Rhae, who drove it to Cyndy, and so on up Interstate 81. In total, the chair traveled more than 300 miles.
Sarah Edwards carried the precious cargo on its last leg.
"It is very similar to driving my children home from the hospital on the first day they were born – nervousness, excitement," she said.
After she received the chair, DelFavero said, "I can't even comprehend why anybody would want to do something like this for me."
It is a legitimate question. But group members said, "It very quickly was not about a chair anymore."
"It gave me something that I needed and I didn't know I needed," one said.
"We're a fellowship – a fellowship of the fish chair," said another.
"I did not need the chair," DelFavero said. "But I did need to be reminded that kindness lurks in even the weirdest little places."
All we need to do — is fish for it.
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