In Search of Sweet Dreams

After a week of sleeping apart, we fixed the problem. We just bought a new bed that should last us for a long while.

For some time I had been tossing and turning a lot and waking up with an achy lower back that gradually faded after I stretched and moved for a while each day. I wondered if it was fibromyalgia or scoliosis or old age or perhaps our bed.

I decided to try an experiment. About a week ago I started sleeping in our son’s bed, which is nothing to write home about. It’s just a conventional mattress with springs, but it is a lot newer than our bed. Sure enough, after just one night I could sense a difference.

We bought our bed at least 12 years ago when I was also experiencing a lot of back pain. We opted for a foam mattress because we could get 2 different densities of foam glued together down the middle. You see we have different requirements for the degree of firmness in the mattress.

When we bought the king-size foam mattress, it was like heaven. It was such a relief and it completely fixed my back problems then. But we were also told that the life of a foam mattress is at most 8 years.

Four years later, it’s no small wonder that my back is once again hurting. There is probably a permanent indentation in my side of the bed which corresponds to the fetal position in which I sleep.

David hates shopping and I’m actually not thrilled by shopping for a new bed, so we made quick work of getting a new one this afternoon. We visited the Healthy Back Store, where he had already established a relationship when he bought a new desk chair. We were the only people in the place – perhaps not a good sign – but that meant we had the undivided attention of the guy who worked there, who was only too happy to make a sale.

I felt like Goldilocks going around to all the beds and trying them out. This one is too hard. This other one is too soft. Oh, I like this one over here. It’s just right. We tried and rejected Temperpedic. We both liked the medium grade Sleep Number bed, which cost about 3 times what we paid for our last bed.

It felt really yummy on my back as I lay there and zoomed the setting up and down. We will have dual controls, so his and hers can be different firmness. Just what we wanted.

I had to laugh when David told me he missed me. I’m always asleep when he comes to bed and I always get up before he does. I asked him if he missed seeing the lump on the other side of the bed and he nodded yes.

So later this week we will be having a reunion in the bedroom after the Sleep Number 3 arrives. A little separation makes getting back together again a sweet thing to look forward to!

Here’s to sweet dreams!