Katy’s first couch
It’s my fifty-first birthday. Or it’s the first anniversary of my fiftieth birthday. No matter the perspective, it’s still the first in my favorite decade to date. And I love the fifties. It’s not without it’s hiccups. I mean I’m still me. I don’t always get it right. I often say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, eat the wrong thing and I’m still morally opposed to flossing… but that could change. I’m changing dentists this year to Dr. Scott. And he could call me on the no flossing. And I might, after a half century, come into compliance with a doctor’s advice. That’d be a first! But it just seems like it’s gonna be a good year for firsts.
I started it out right by buying my first, brand-new, never-been-owned couch.
My intention was to have it delivered on my birthday. I envisioned it arriving with a big ole red bow like one of those holiday car commercials. I loved the sentiment of my first couch and my fifty-first sharing the same day. I’m grandiose and dramatic like that.
My friend Bill encouraged me not to set myself up for disappointment. Early in the couch shopping process, he told me furniture orders aren’t reliable and I should plan on 6-8 weeks from store purchase to home delivery. And even though he has a sensibility that I adhere to on a regular basis, I still wanted my couch’s arrival and my birthday manifesting together in a beautiful celebratory moment.
And it did! The couch arrived yesterday on my birthday eve. It was just that easy!
Well, truthfully, none of it went according to plan. First, I shopped for months and couldn’t find anything I loved at a price I loved. I’m cheap AND I like nice things. It’s a lethal combo. I mean I waited for over 50 years to buy my first couch and I wanted it perfect. I’m too old for a futon. And I’m too young for frumpy. I wanted contemporary and comfortable.
I visited twenty plus stores. And scoured the internet. I almost pulled the trigger a few times. I was crushing hard on a humongous orange monstrosity that came with matching ottoman. My hesitation made me call in the experts for a final determination. Bilger said NO. I kept looking. Over Thanksgiving, I started reading yelp reviews on furniture. I found Far Below Retail. They had great ratings from a horde of satisfied customers. I decided it was worth one last shopping excursion. And I had a back-up couch at CB2 that I had all the ordering digits on as my safety.
Well, I walked in and sat down on a couch and tried to buy that one off the floor. I loved it! That strategy didn’t work but I did buy a couch that day. They ordered it express to ensure delivery by my birthday. After the purchase, a series of mishaps… wrong color, wrong phone number, wrong email address, delayed shipping…threatened my birthday plan. So, I let go of the idea. I stopped fretting about it. I realized it might not happen as I imagined. And that was okay. I accepted that life doesn’t always go down on my schedule. Definitely, the realization and acceptance were both big firsts for me.
And now, I’m sitting on my couch contemplating the many benefits of being a couch potato.