A Tale of Two Sofas

It is a far, far better sofa I have than I have ever had. It is a far, far better place the other sofa goes than it should ever have gone.

I'd be calling this "A Tale of Two Couches" but the word "sofa" sounds better.

I'm up late this evening because I can't do heavy labor at the end of the day and just fall asleep as though nothing has happened. If someone made me get up at 1 am and do hard work I'd never get back to sleep. I have a feeling I'll be going in to work late tomorrow. Which is fine...it's not like I have to study anymore.

Back to the couches.

A few years ago, when I bought my townhome, I was leaving an apartment I shared with a roommate. She had a large tannish-colored sectional couch that she likely got from someone else. I can't remember. When we moved, she was going to keep the love seat portion, and asked me if I wanted the other section, which included a sleeper. Realizing that I neither had a couch nor did I have anywhere to put overnight guests (such as my brother), well, I saw wisdom in accepting that section. Even though I realized I'd never be able to get rid of it.

It was a beast; her cats had sharpened their claws on it frequently, it had been moved several times, and while it was a very comfortable couch (before I'd lived there I'd slept on it several times), it was quite ugly. But it was useful, and I was in need of useful things. And I have really not regretted keeping that section. It's been challenging to keep it presentable, for I've had to cover it with sheets (you can't buy a slipcover for a couch missing one arm), so I've done different things to try to make it look nice. But no matter what I did, it never looked right. Yet is has indeed been useful.

Home ownership made it impossible for me to even enterain the idea of purchasing new furniture; most of what I own has been given to me. When I moved in, I was sleeping on a fouton that was about 8 years old. I had a rocker given to me by my mother, and I bought a table my first year. The following year I bought a bed, and gave the fouton to the dogs to wreck. (I also want to get rid of that...any takers? The wood frame is untreated...would be great as firewood!)

I have a few bookcases and other things, but my eclectic mix of stuff has made me feel like a perpetually-poor student. Which I'm back to being now. Although it does make it easier to be willing to walk away and give things away!

Which brings us to the tale of the second couch.

I have neighbors whom I met and became friends with a when I moved in, and I know that God sent me to this home to share a wall with them for they became the first people I met at my new church. When I bought my home I was amidst my conversion, knew I needed good Catholic friends, and prayed for them. God answered. I wasn't even going to Mass every Sunday in the months following my move, but their influence and friendship certainly inspired me. (Note to Fr. Schnippel - the way they lived their faith and offered their sincere friendship was a HUGE instrument of my conversion.)

Well, one of those two women, sisters, (biological) is getting married, and she is the homeowner so she is selling. This makes me very sad for I'll miss her as a neighbor. As she's been renovating and moving, she put a couch outside, but we don't live in an area very good for just leaving decent free stuff around. So it wasn't taken. I walked around it, wondering. I liked that couch, but unless I got rid of mine, I couldn't take hers. So I walked away.

The next day, it was back in her garage. We ran into each other in passing (my friend and I, not the couch and I) so I asked her about it. We spoke of my beastly couch and I said I liked theirs better but didn't know what to do with mine in order to be able to help them.

I'm usually quite the investigator, but with many things in my life I've been feeling quite overwhelmed. So my friend did the research and found out that our garbage company would take it and she told me the cost. She said she'd split the cost since I was taking hers. (About $40.00 with tax)

I agreed, and learned they'd pick up mine on Wednesday morning. Great!

Being that we belong to an Association, we can't just leave junk around, so I figured we'd move it tonight, garbage night. Well she had to work late tonight. So I rearranged my livingroom and kitchen to accomodate moving, opened my garage door, and did all I could. She wasn't home yet, but due any moment. Another neighbor was home, and agreed to help me move the beast of a couch I already owned. We got it out through the garage and to the curb with absolutely no bad language! The other sister (also a friend) was home and opened their garage door so we could move their couch into my house, and assisted in doing so.

Surely enough, at that moment I realized why they'd offered to split the cost...their couch was even HEAVIER and more unweildy than mine!

But it was better looking and went better with my overall color scheme.

By then, my friend the homeowner returned home from work in time to help us move the couch into my house. It literally took 4 of us to fight with it!

Finally it was in place. And that's when my friend looked at me, pushed her hair back and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She confessed that this couch had originally come from the very place in which we had put it. When she moved in 10 years ago, the homeowner before me had given her the couch. And she had helped move the couch from THAT VERY SPOT, where it RESTS RIGHT NOW!

And you know? It makes my livingroom look MUCH BETTER! Apparently it simply belongs here. See? We all have a home. Even the sofa has a home.

I never said it was an interesting tale of two couches.

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