Mattresses and Milestones

Recently we replaced our old mattress - after 32 years. I never really thought about a mattress being any kind of of a life milestone, but 32 years is a long time! It is part of our history - our beginning. We bought our old mattress when I was pregnant with our first child, Mary. We were in our last year of seminary and still sleeping on a mattress that might have been considered an antique! It came with the antique bed we found at an estate sale. Well, not exactly....

34 years ago after we were married we moved to Dallas, Texas to begin four years of seminary. Initially we lived in a furnished apartment near the seminary (another story!) and after a couple of months moved to an apartment near the place I worked so I could walk and Carlon could drive our one car. We had no furniture, so we decided to hit garage sales for some deals and treasures. Surely we'd find wonderful things in Highland Park!! The day yielded almost nothing other than a few pictures, one of a stern looking Spanish soldier, another by a Japanese artist (Fujita) who painted people with 6 fingers, and two Portugese labor chairs we really couldn't sit in! We did have one last stop, an estate sale in an apartment complex off of Lemon Ave. that began at 5:00 pm. Feeling pretty discouraged we just wanted to get it over with and go home. We were the first ones there and at 5:00 sharp the door was unlocked. We walked in to an apartment full of old furniture in perfect condition! The couple never had children, and after he died she lived alone until she could no longer care for herself. Mahogany - Thomasville - and old. Antiques. Pretty soon the apartment was filling up with hungry antique dealers aware of the fact things were being sold at very good prices. The gentleman holding the sale, a friend of the owner, knew we were first - what do you want- what are you interested in? The beautiful secretary for sure, the end tables, the dining room table and chairs, the linen chest - and what about a bed and chest of drawers? He took us into the bedroom where we saw a most stately mahogany four poster bed and two chests of drawers. But they had to be purchased together. The only drawback was the chests were in bad shape and needed some work and refinishing. Our one bedroom apartment had a very small balcony with only room for one bike and a very small grill. No place to refnish anything. We were just beginning to say could we please just have the bed, when a shark, I mean dealer - standing right behind us - said, "I'll take everything." The kind gentleman had to sell the bedroom set to her, but he felt terrible for us. Come over to my house, I have something to show you that I think you'll really like.

I didn't get to go, I think I was working that day, but Carlon did and the gentlemen took him into his basement, rare in Dallas, and showed him a very lovely old cherry wood spindle four poster bed complete with mattress and box springs. The mattress and box springs had been custom made, a long time ago, for a man who was very tall - well over 6 feet maybe close to 7. Well, we had very little money left for furniture, so we took it, mattress and box springs and all. And slept on that old mattress for 3 years. By the time I was about halfway into my first pregnancy, sleeping was getting more and more difficult. The lumpy mattress could no longer be ignored - not even by adventurous 26 year olds! Let's try sleeping on our hide a bed. A couple of weeks of that convinced us we needed to do the noble thing and get a brand new mattress and box springs. So we went to the best place in town - Wiers Furniture Store right down the road within walking distance of our apartment- and bought the best mattress and box springs money could buy from a very convincing store salesman. Only the best for our baby! Heaven in a bed - our Sterns and Foster made us feel like a king and queen. We hung the disapproving Spaniard over our four poster spindle bed which housed our amazing mattress, and over the years added three more children to our family, made a few moves, and grew up.

I have no idea how long our mattress and box springs were guaranteed to last - but - even now they are still fairly comfortable. But these 58 year olds need FIRM and mattresses that don't wiggle when the other person does, and keeps necks, and backs and shoulders aligned. 58 year olds have needs that 26 year olds, even pregnant ones, don't have. 58 year olds really don't sleep very well and tend to wake up a lot - kind of like babies. We didn't realize any of that though until we slept on a hotel queen sized mattress. Yes - hotel. In the morning we looked at each other. Did you sleep well? Yes - I didn't even know you were there. Humm. Let's take a look at this mattress. Simmons. Really firm. We liked it. We liked it so much we decided it was finally time to say goodbye to our regal old friend who really was good to us in every way - and bought a super firm Simmons mattress and box springs. No frills - we did our homework before we shopped this time - just a good firm mattress. Our Sterns and Foster is now a wonderful guest bed - and our Simmons has taken it's place. If this one lasts as long as the last one, and I doubt that it will, we will be 90! I doubt that WE will last that long. But it's with a sad fondness I say goodbye to our dear friend who saw us through very good years - our growing up with children years. Lots of wonderful memories - bittersweet. Thankful, and yet, sad. Who knows what our Simmons will see us through in these graying years? Don't really like to think about it too much actually. But I trust it too will be a good friend.