Thursday, June 24, 2010

My Bed

For some reason, I seem to be back on hospital time. I am waking up about four times per night.. After a couple of weeks of this, I am starting to feel ... well, awful and stressed. Last night, actually this morning at about 2 a.m., I was laying awake and thinking about how much I missed my old bed. Mac said it wasn't going to follow us to the new house. As I was doing all of this house building stuff for Mac, we went bed shopping. I have to admit, it is a beautiful bed. We had finally upgraded to a queen and this great plateau of furniture is one of the favorite places for the grandkids to play, but at 2 in the morning I miss my bed..

We bought it at a yard sale as newlyweds. We had to borrow the forty dollars from Mac's little sister as we were a week away from payday. When we bought it, it was covered in badly chipping white paint, had a heavy exposed spring, and a mattress that looked like it predated the B-52 bomber. We took it home. Rolled up our sleeping bags. I was soon puking up my guts, pregnant with our first daughter.

I would wake up in labor in that bed.... three times.

I eventually got tired of the chipping white paint and I stripped it off.. The detail of the old cast iron showed through, as did the flaws. When the paint came off the old brass knobs, I polished them up til they sparkled. Then we hauled it back upstairs and put it back together and got the loud, heavy, awkward springs back on, topped by the B-52 mattress. The springs were getting dangerous in that mattress. So , I went down to a used furniture store that resided across from the railroad tracks and found another that I could afford. I think the word mattress would be an over statement. It was thin. I think I saw it before rolled and tied to the top of a car in the movie "The Grapes of Wrath". It was too thin to just go on the old metal springs so it became a mattress topper. I can't complain, it got us through another five years or so.

The next upgrade was my mom's used mattress and box spring. She wanted to "re-do" her guest room. I did some carpentry work for her and she paid me with the new bed set. I should say it was new to me. It was still a B-52 mattress but it was new enough to have a real box spring. It was old enough to have something resembling a pin up girl on the Serta label. We would have that mattress until, once again, springs were coming through the fabric and assaulting our bodies. It was not unknown to wake up with red welts, and occasionally, a bit of blood after a spring attack. I would get my revenge by light of day. I would tear the hole the spring made a bit larger and push the spring tip back down then take strips of duct tape and tape the tip back down to the spring coil. If the spring tip had created a very big wound then it would get a LOT of duct tape.

However you can only enlarge holes in your mattress so much. Eventually the poor thing looked a bit like the moon's surface, pock marked with craters. About five years ago, we bought a new mattress for the bed. It was $189.00 for the set from a local furniture store that specialized in crappy furniture, hotel style art and lamps with ugly glass shades, stenciled in "authentic" victorian designs. It was a decision we had to make. Either get a cheap mattress set or get to the Dr. for tetanus vaccinations. The cost was the same so we went with the mattress set.

The old bed is currently at my daughters. As I helped her get it into the apartment and put together she informed me that my mattress and box springs were really crap. I was torn between being offended and wanting to laugh, instead, I just told her,"But Katie, this is my GOOD mattress" She just rolled her eyes.

Sometimes at 2 a.m., I miss my bed, my boon companion.

louie

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