Thoughts of our old Beautyrest

  Recently, the importance of a good bed became of paramount importance to me.  The surrounding lessons and insights became even more important. 

  Mate and I traveled for 3 weeks and most often were in superb beds!  Wonderful!  As I lay my tired body on our old Simmons when finally home, the muscles in my back were very sore. 

  We have known for a couple of years that the mattress needed to be replaced but didn’t agree on what should replace it.  While it remains important to be able to feel one another’s loving and familiar energy, our age-related sleep challenges can cause sleep deficits for me in particular.  Twin or king instead of our accustomed queen?  They weren’t realistic options because of space and the old mattress continued to develop more lumps and bumps! 

  That first night on our bed after the trip was painful for me and I knew the next day we had to do something about it, pronto!  Forget the research results we had muddled through and our indecisions on all the new technologies and just head out to MACY’s and get the best we could get there. 

  I continued with the very sore back and restless nights and every night as I lay my body on our old Beautyrest, I actually counted how many days until the new mattress would be delivered.   Unfortunately, MACY’s wanted to deliver the mattress the afternoon we had previous plans to hear the Boston POPS and so the delivery had to be postponed.  MACY’s dropped the ball, and never entered the rescheduled time in their books.  Next possibility for delivery was over a week later!  They did compensate us with a $100 gift certificate, which was little compensation for my sore back!  

  Mate suggested we sleep in our guest bedroom.  I never had slept in the room, on the bed, or even on that floor!  I resisted for a couple of nights and then decided we should try it. 

  I put my favorite 400 count sheets on it and took our favorite pillows, our books, Kleenex, nail file, CPAP with me.  Hmmmmm~~~~~~~~~~~ “Feels like we’re on vacation.  Bed feels pretty good, sheets feel great!  I like the shadow the light creates on the edge of that wall.”  We turned the lights out.  “I can see the stars in the skylights and I am not able to see them in our bedroom.  I love that!” 

 The next morning, I was awakened by the early New England sunrise in the skylights and it felt wonderful!  I am a morning person and react positively and quickly to the sun.  I lay there a few minutes and considered the wallpaper and the paint choices that I had made. The Georgia O’Keefe’s prints that I love are on the wall and some antiques that have significance in my life are carefully placed.  I created this room and I love it.  I felt comfortable and excited to be reminded of this lovely room.

  My thoughts of gratitude overwhelmed me.  Certainly, for obvious reasons surrounding the bedroom experience but more profoundly was the realization that I had made what I deemed a miserable situation into a very pleasant and eye-opening experience.  The circumstances surrounding the entire Simmons-replacement-challenge were not in my control. When I was able to ‘let it go’ and accept the circumstances, I could take control and make the experience wonderful.  A minor challenge, letting go of circumstances out of my control, and willingness to ‘move on’ afforded me a more profound lesson to be considered in my future life experiences.

 Mate and I love our new Beautyrest and now know that the last few days of driving several hundred miles was the true culprit in my sore-back problem.