Warning: The post is completely self-indulgent. You probably won’t care a lick about it. I’ll be back for comment responding and less selfish posting soon.
Two-weeks before we got married, Chris moved his queen-sized bed into my apartment and slept on air mattress at his house. His queen was much older than my full, but the reason for the switcheroo trumped age: Chris is 6 foot 5.
So we put his parents’ first mattress with my parents’ first headboard. It’s been our “rack” (or as I like to say to Caelyn, “Rackey-Roo”) ever since.
I’ll never forget that first night in the “new” bed.
(Okay, okay. Get it out: “That’s what she said.” But, really, I meant before we got married, not on our wedding night. Why don’t you join me up here?)
My parents had purchased my full mattress not long before when they gave my sister their old queen-sized bed and bedroom suite. Apparently, I give people the idea that I’ll resent them for life if not treated fairly. (Now would be a good time to mention that my sister has their bed, dresser, mirrors, chest of drawers, kitchen table & chairs, gas grill, and sideboard. She also had their old couch. I have their first full-sized bed and chest of drawers and my great grandfather’s rocker. I’ve yet to plot my revenge. And, yes, I’ve been more spoiled in other ways. But they don’t fit into this post.) The bed they purchased was a nice, firm one. They loved it! I missed the worn-in quality of my old one.
As you regulars know, I’m a bad sleeper. I stay up too late. I take forever to fall asleep. I wake up several times a night. I have to have it dark. I dream most of the night and wake up feeling worn out. To top it off, I talk and walk in my sleep.
But, man, did I do some sleeping that first week in the “new” bed. It was so soft. It was a Sleep Oasis!
Unfortunately, it’s still an old bed. And we’ve put some serious mileage on it in the last few years. (Hey, you! In the gutter! I’m still up here!) We haven’t done a great job of rotating/flipping. The middle frame leg broke during a move (as in “to a new city,” not “bust a” or “sweet new trick”), so now it’s propped up on a wooden block. The unbroken legs also have blocks beneath them for storage purposes. Before we crammed an entire study into the crannies of this apartment, Maverick slept under there and he’s a big dog, who bumped the mattress off the box springs every time. Then I got pregnant, essentially adding a small person to the weight ratio every night. And after Caelyn was born, she preferred being bounced on the side of the bed more than anything else.
All of that adds up to a bed that squeaks at the slightest touch and sags on both sides. And to sore backs, necks, and shoulders.
It’s not entirely the bed’s fault. I sleep on my stomach with my arms folded. (Think dead person in a coffin on her stomach.) My arms go numb, my neck hurts, but I can’t quit. After being pregnant and having to sleep on my side, I’m better at side-sleeping, but not great, since I can only do it on one side. If I lay on my right side, I can hear my “heartbeat” swooshing in my ear. It’s like trying to sleep with a sonogram machine in your head!
But all that (except for the swooshing) changed two days ago when Chris walked in with a surprise box.
In short, I’m now sleeping on my very own memory foam mattress topper with fluffy mattress pad. I can keep all my awful sleep positions and not feel sore in the morning!
**
It’s so luxurious! It’s the the mirage to my old Oasis!
If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about it. It’s like a brand new bed! And in a few months, we’ll be getting new spring bedding too.
They should put a warning on the box, though:
“May not be suitable for mothers whose children want them to get out of bed early. To avoid parental negligence, be certain monitor receiver is at full volume and placed directly beside the ear.”
I’ll catch you suckers* later. I’ve got to plan a vacation to my bed.
5 Comments
February 29, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Your new memory foam is just the beginning….Before long, you’ll have a spare rolled up in the trunk of your car (you’ll have to buy a new car for it to fit), have one stashed at Mom and Dad’s house for the bed there, buy one for the bed you sleep in at my house, and have an extra stored in the closet at my house, just in case you ever need to sleep on the couch there. I can already tell, you’re doomed to be a memory-foam-junkie! It’s in your genes!
February 29, 2008 at 6:16 pm
JSmo — When I start naming a hoard of pillows living in my bed, I’d like you to intervene, please. And by “intervene,” I don’t mean send over Pillweta and Pillweter (the names I just assigned to your and Kevin’s body pillows) for a night in The Oasis.
March 1, 2008 at 4:36 pm
It’s a deal!
March 1, 2008 at 6:15 pm
1. I like the fact that your bed squeaks. That made all of your gutter references even funnier.
2. Joy and I sleep on a full size bed. It was my great-grandmother’s. Sorta creepy but cool looking.
3. We need to get a memory foam mattress topper. Where did you get it?
March 3, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Steve —
1. I think our neighbors really appreciated that fact too when we were rhythmically bouncing Caelyn on the side of the bed for 20 minute intervals at all hours of the day and night.
2. Is there any bed quality better than “sorta creepy but cool looking”?
3. It’s a 3 inch-thick, cool-temperature Sealy, I think, which he purchased from Overstock.com. We talked about getting a topper and new bedding for Christmas, but then decided to get a fancy coffee grinder and more individual gifts. But when he came across a great deal (like more than a hundred dollars less than average), he couldn’t pass it up. Ours came with those contoured memory foam pillows too, which we’re probably not going to use for sleeping, but I think they’re great for reading/movie watching in bed. The fluffy mattress pad is the “Luxury” one that Target makes, which costs more than the basic mattress pad from Wal-Mart, but a lot less than a down-ish topper. Actually, it’s kinda like a mini-down-ish (but not actually down) topper. Even with all those additional inches, our regular sheets fit just fine.