Growing up is kind of a hassle sometimes. Shan and I are at that point in our lives where we’re starting to realize we’re not kids anymore. Athletic activity takes a toll on us. We’re tired without the requisite amount of sleep. Teenagers annoy the shit out of us. In most ways, I kind of like it. I could get into sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, sipping iced tea, and collecting frisbees that kids accidentally throw onto my lawn. I’m already working on my fist-shaking, and different ways to lament all the problems with kids today. But it’s not all good.
Lately, we’ve been sleeping worse. Shan has wanted a new mattress since before we met. She has a hand-me-down queen bed, and I had a hand-me-down full bed. So our options upon moving in together were slim. We went with Shan’s queen, with a down mattress topper to soften the concrete slab underneath. I’ve always thought I liked firm mattresses, and the first few months sleeping on Shan’s slab reinforced that, as I would routinely wake up refreshed while she tossed and turned. But now the slab is catching up to me. I’ve been sleeping worse and worse, just as my last year of school is getting busier and busier. We’re not sleeping well, we’re cranky all day, and it’s not good. So, the adult thing to do is buy a new mattress, right?
Maybe. As we’ve made abundantly clear, we’re trying to save money for a relatively cheap wedding, and even that’s a struggle. Blame it on the economy, lack of decisive career moves, professional desires unrelated to salary, whatever. We’re not destitute, but a $2,000 wedding is not a drop in the bucket either. So a new mattress? Frivolous. We’ll just put up with the slab and make the best of it. Well, at a certain point, we realized we had to do the adult thing and spring (get it?) for a new mattress. Enter Black Friday.
We are not day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers. I’ve often said I’d rather pay a million dollars for a CD than shop at Best Buy on Black Friday. But the JC Penney ad caught our eyes yesterday. A Eurotop plush mattress set for less than $500! Interesting, no? After researching what a Eurotop mattress actually is (it’s the same structure as a pillowtop), we determined that this mattress could be the answer to our prayers. Only problem…Black Friday. I actually considered heading out at 4am this morning to buy a mattress. Just for fun, we looked online. The same mattress is on sale on the website for basically the same price. Bingo! We get the savings, skip the hassle, and sleep in. And, of course, by sleep in I mean toss and turn restlessly on the slab for a few extra hours.
But, buying a new mattress meant an adult decision about money. Should we dip into the wedding fund for the mattress? Should we split the cost and skip buying each other Christmas presents? Can we afford to pay cash or should we charge it? Ultimately, the responsible adults in us agreed that we should pay cash and scale down our spending on each other for Christmas. A good night of sleep is all the gift either of us need anyway. So, we bought it. We’re expecting a call next week to set up delivery, and then we’ll be sleeping on a fluffy cloud (the website’s actual description). Sometimes being an adult is hard work. But, sometimes it’s like sleeping on a cloud.
Happy Black Friday everyone.
shanandmike
Shannon
Mike