See our couch. This is the nicest, priciest piece of furniture we own. We bought it a little more than a year ago to provide a sense of class (and leather) to our living room. The leather is supple and much nicer than we deserve. The only problem was that we didn’t envision the couch with us (and the cat) camped out on it. Night after night. When you think of the aesthetics of furniture, you don’t often picture how you look littered in that image. Look at the blankets and pillows. This is a lived-in couch. Which is part of the problem.
The beautiful sofa of our dreams is also a vehicle that transports us to the land of dreams night after night. By that I mean we can’t stay awake on the thing.
Take Friday night. By 9:00 pm Hubby, me and the cat are lined up in a display of stupor. Much like the victims of Pompeii, we’re almost frozen in time. Hubby is upright, head leaning back with the remote in his right hand. I am wrapped in two blankets and leaning toward him for warmth. MJ the cat is the only one who appeared ready to spend a good, long time camped out on the leather magic carpet, all curled up and cozy like felines do.
Around midnight I stir because my neck hurts. Hubby opens his eyes and gasps that three hours have slipped by. “How did that happen?” he asks. We are astonished that we were so thoroughly knocked out; our slumber so deep that we thought we were tucked in our own bed. Yes, this is an indication that we have no control over our impulse to fall asleep, as if we’ve been drugged (or have a carbon monoxide problem in our house).
Except the exact same thing happened the previous night.
“We have a problem,” I sighed. “We’re in a rut.”
It’s true. After an early evening of dinner and work chat, there isn’t much reason to maintain any sense of alertness. If you can’t fall asleep with your spouse, what’s the purpose, right? Nothing on TV captures our fancy these days. The sky still darkens early. And the power of the couch yet again drains us of all remaining energy. The cat joins in because he long ago got over the fact that one needs to be productive in the evenings.
Daylight savings time begins in a couple weeks. Will we be less likely to slip into the ether? Until the weather warms up I doubt it. So the Rip Van Winkle family carries on. And let me say that I have a better appreciation of that story than I did as a child. The man was a genius. He understood that there are certain periods in life (winter) when it’s best to sleep away time.
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