A Boy, a Girl, and a Bed

Let me tell you a story. A story about a husband. And a wife. And a bed.

You see, this bed was bought after a fire had happened in the couple's house. The first bed that the couple ever had (it was their first major furniture purchase together) had been destroyed by the smoke damage. While they were waiting for their house to be repaired, someone gave them a very nice new mattress and box springs. When they moved back into their house, they bought a bedroom set off Craig's list. Unfortunately, the bed wasn't complete, so they had to buy a bed frame as well. They didn't really like this arrangement, but for the money that they had, it was the best they could do.

After a while, the wife (let's call her "Lina") found that the bed was sagging on the husband's (let's call him "John") side. When she would sit down to put on her socks, she would almost fall to the floor! Now, Lina isn't the smallest gal in the world, but she ain't THAT big! Add to that the fact that whenever John would come to bed after the Lina was asleep, she would literally fall into him when he laid down.

Finally one day, Lina said to John, "Honey? I think maybe the box springs are broken on your side." and then she proceeded to demonstrate why she thought so. She thought maybe they would have to buy a new mattress as well, because there was an indentation where John's rear end always was. (I have been asked to refrain from calling it something else, but suffice it to say the couple's ten year old son, "Jonah" thought it was hilarious!) John just casually brushed it off and said, "Nah. They can't be broken."

Well, the couple continued to sleep on said bed for quite a while, because they just couldn't afford anything else. Finally, after doing their taxes and getting their refund, they were able to shop a little. Lina found a very nice bed, almost like the one they'd had before the fire. It was even actually the exact same price as they'd paid for their original bed more than 16 years before! They even had enough to get their son, Jonah, a headboard for his bed (since he'd been sleeping on just a mattress and box springs!)

The bed was delivered, and John went to work. Lina knew enough to stay out of his way, only to help when asked, so she was sitting in her favorite chair when she heard "well no wonder!!" yelled from the bedroom. When she asked what was going on (though she felt she already knew the answer), he answered, "The box springs are broken!"

She didn't really want to say "I told you so", but it escaped her mouth before she could stop herself.

He looked sheepish when he came out of the room, saying "I don't want to talk about it."

So they didn't.

Lina called her mother, (who has a Sam's card) and they went to Sam's at 6:00 pm that evening and bought a new box spring for their bed. Problem was, they didn't plan well enough. They thought that maybe it would fit in the back of the minivan that Lina drove; they even took out the bucket seats and folded the back seat down.

Nope. Not gonna happen. *sigh*

So, they called Lina's cousin who drives a truck. "Can you come get us, please?" An hour and a half later, he showed up. Lina and her mom finally got home, and John was finally able to get the bed together.

Oh, did I mention that their middle son, "Darren" decided to use one of the brand new cross-bars as a helicopter blade and spin it around, therefore cracking it? Yeah. The first time they laid in the bed, they heard a craaa-aack. NOT something you want to hear when you lay down in a brand new bed! Thankfully, they were able to rig it and sleep on it that night. The next day, John went to Home Depot and bought some more wood to shore up the broken cross beams.

John and Lina now have a new bed! It doesn't make squeaking noises when you get in and out, Lina doesn't fall into John when he gets into the bed, and the mattress is like new again! They are sleeping better than they have in a long time!

*****************************Disclaimer*****************************

This story is NOT purely fictional. This actually happened. You can guess who this happened to, and you'll probably be right. Names have been changed to protect the "innocent", but let's face it, everyone already knows who Darren is!

The Day Our House Burned Down and What Happened After: The End!

So. Our house burned down. Well, not down, they just basically had to gut the house and start again. In some ways, they said, it would have been easier to knock it down and re-build the house from scratch than to try to match what was already in the house.

You see, my Grandpa built this house more than 50 years ago. Our farm has been here for over 100 years; started by my great-grandfather and now run by my father. Up until 2005, it was a dairy farm. Yes, people, I've milked cows. I will fully admit to being the princess; with two older brothers to do the heavy work, I did get out of a lot. I did, however, have to get up early before school and help when I was old enough! My jobs were to help get the milking started and feed the babies. No, I wasn't terribly excited about it, but my parents told me that my job came with my birth certificate.

But I digress.

When Grandpa built this house, he used the trees that grew behind where the house stands. When the restorers looked at the inside of the roof from the attic, they were flummoxed. They had never seen a roof built like it was, with rough cut lumber in planks. They left as much as they could alone, but they had to use plywood in the places that couldn't be saved.

The roof being torn off



 

Once they tore down the walls and ceiling, they began spraying everything with what is basically a sealant.

 

Before the sealant

After the sealant



There was a lot of work to do. All in all, it took four and a half months. During that time, people from our community, friends and family and church family showed up. They brought food, clothes (oh my, so many clothes!!), money; you name it. We were blessed by so much that summer.

 

We made decision after decision; from flooring to counter tops, lighting to appliances, Mom and I were busy those months. We did have fun going to the stores and spending someone else's (insurance company) money, though!

 

We bought everything AND the kitchen sink!

 

 

We were able to find furniture on Craig's List for good prices, and thanks to so many wonderful donations that we just put in the bank until we could use them, we had enough to get all the furniture we needed. We finally were able to get back into our house at the beginning of October.

 

Our first night, on our new (to us) sofa in our NEW house

 

 I learned a lot of things that summer. One thing is, stuff is just that: stuff. We call it "kindling" now, actually. I know, it's a terrible joke. To us, though, it really is. We think twice about the things we buy now. Do we really need it, or do we just want it? (Sometimes, it's just fine to buy something you want, I'm not saying that you should never treat yourself!)

 

Another thing that I learned is who my real friends really are. I was quite surprised by some that "showed up", and let down by some that didn't bother. That made me stronger, though. I am comfortable in my own skin, and the only One I need to answer to is God. Don't get me wrong, I have my moments (or days, weeks or..er..um..well, you get the idea!) where I feel less than, unworthy and all that. In the grand scheme of things, though

 

 "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day."

2 Timothy 1:12

 

Basically, God's got this. I've learned that sometimes the best thing to do is just sit back and watch.

 

 

The Day Our House Burned Down and What Happened After (Part 5)

If you have been reading along, this is part 5 of my story. If you haven't, you really should read it in order!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Shawn's boss told him to take all the time off that he needed to take care of things here at home. I was very grateful; I needed him here. He was home for a week, cleaning the house out and basically directing everyone that came to help. I was no use to anyone.

When my in-laws were here, they brought a queen sized air bed for us. Shawn and I were able to at least sleep in the same room again; he on the air bed, me on the regular bed. (He moves around too much, and every time he did, he'd bump me right off the air bed!) We stayed that way for 6 weeks, until someone gave us a mattress and box springs.

Monday and Tuesday people came to help get more stuff out of the house and garage. A youth group from a church we don't even go to came out and cleaned things like dishes and "stuff". I remember someone trying to clean the boys building blocks; you know, the Mega Blocks? Yeah. Soot won't come off of those. I told them to throw them away.

You know, smoke doesn't discriminate. Heat doesn't, either. I had a desk top computer in the kitchen, on the other side of the house from the fire. There was also a laptop computer, on the floor, not 4 feet from the actual flames (there was a chair between the flames and the computer.) Can you guess which one survived the fire? The laptop! The desktop, because it was plugged in and because it was above the floor on a desk, fried. The laptop was on the floor, under the smoke and not plugged in.

Our wedding album was in a utility sink that we used for storing stuff; we never ran the water in it. It totally survived.

My oldest son, Noah, was in a loft bed that night. I'm convinced that if his bedroom door had been open and not closed, he wouldn't be with us today; he would have perished from smoke inhalation. He was so high up, close to the ceiling. There was an Ikea shelving unit under his bed that we stored toys on. When it was taken out of the house, Shawn scraped a sticker off of it. This it what he saw:

We called this picture "Beauty from Ashes".

We lost everything in our attic. Our Christmas decorations and ornaments I had been collecting for 13 years were all gone. When the restorers were up in the attic, they were told to just throw away what they found. I didn't want to see it. When I went down there one day to get the mail and check on things (that became my daily routine) one guy came out with this in his hands:

I didn't have any Santa decorations in my home but this one. It was the only Christmas decoration that we found. Thing is, now it's disappeared. We have NO idea where it is, to this day!

Let's switch gears here a little, now, shall we?

After the fire, I didn't sleep. I was fine during the day, but when the sun went down, I wasn't. It was as if I had to stay awake to protect everyone else. My Mom's dryer had an alarm that would buzz when the clothes were done; I had to make her turn it off, because it sounded too much like the smoke alarms. It scared me every time. She also has an upright freezer that was malfunctioning, and it too had an alarm that sounded like the smoke alarms. Unfortunately, we couldn't turn that one off, and it would go off in the middle of the night.

Between those things and no sleep, I was jumpier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

I finally went to the doctor. I told her what had happened, and that I wasn't sleeping. I thought I needed sleeping medicine. I'd been given Ambien when I was pregnant, so I figured they'd just give me that. She told me I was wrong. Oh, the sleeping pills would put me to sleep, yes, but I would wake back up. She told me that I was suffering from anxiety.

Anxiety? Me? Are you sure?

It was almost like PTSD. She prescribed some anti-anxiety meds and anti-depressants (this was before my discovery of essential oils!) and sent me home with instructions to rest as much as possible.

Riiiiiiight.

...to be continued, again...