In the market for a bed? If you have or ever expect to have a spouse, children or mammalian pets, I suggest a king.
When I was engaged, my fiancé-now-husband took me to the furniture store and asked me to pick out a bed. Being the princess bride, I knew exactly what I wanted. The queen.
“Are you sure you don’t want a king?” said my fiancé-now-husband.
“Absolutely not!” I said as Close to You swayed through my lovestruck head.
Fast forward fifteen years. Life at the castle looks different than I imagined that day in the furniture store. Bottom line, everyone ends up in my bed.
My baby has always slept in his own bed until this year.
My dog has always slept in her own bed on the floor beside mine until this year.
My husband has always slept in my bed with me until this year. When his snoring became so loud I couldn’t sleep, he was banished to the guest room.
Lonely and in a moment of weakness, I let the dog sleep in my bed once. Guess what happened the next night. She expected to sleep there again. Became a regular fixture.
When work required my husband to be away for a week, my son and I threw a slumber party. What happened next time dad traveled? Yep. Another slumber party.
Seemingly overnight I had gone from sleeping in my bed with my husband to sleeping by myself to sleeping with my dog and my child.
As you read last time in Sleepless in St. Louis, my husband got a sleep machine and his snoring stopped. He returned to my bed, gear in tow. My son wasn’t invited, but he has ways of sneaking in.
“Mom,” he says at 3:30 a.m. as he stands beside my bed. “I had a bad dream.”
“It’s okay, honey,” I say. “Come on in.”
The dog ran from the bed with the advent of the sleep machine. Won’t even stay in the same room now. But in a thunderstorm she instantly appears, whining to be comforted.
“It’s okay, honey,” I say. “Come on in.”
The dog is trembling and pacing acround the mattress. Thunderstorm or not, she abhors the machine.
My son is kicking and stretching his lethal legs diagonally across my space.
And my husband, bless his heart, is fast asleep.
I extricate myself from the entanglement, take my pillow, pick up the dog, and go sleep in the twin bunk.
This Queen needs a good night’s rest.
This Queen needs a king.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. Psalm 3:5 NIV
Lucky Dogs
My friend Lisa is a foster parent for Senior Dogs 4 Seniors. All the dogs featured in this post are available for adoption through the organization, except for Lucy and Jaspar shown here with their new owners.
Senior Dogs 4 Seniors cares for dogs in the homes of volunteers until they can be placed with loving folks and families.
Lisa has housed as many as eight dogs at once, but recently drew the line at six. And yes, they are allowed to sleep in her bed.
Help Lisa and her husband Cordel get a good night’s rest. Go to seniordogs4seniors.com for more info on what you can do.
BTW Senior Dogs 4 Seniors sponsors an adoption event most Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Kirkwood Petco on Lindburgh just north of I-44. Their next event is this Saturday, May 7th.