Lost in translation.

Well this is our third week in our new home and we have had some interesting new challenges as we move through our transition. Looking back I don't know how anyone ever moves and keeps their wits about them.  The newest thing that happened to us is that my sister is also moving and offered us her bed frame that I had seen a few times when I had visited her in California. What I could remember is that it looked like a normal sized frame and I was delighted that she gave it to us as it would fit perfectly in our new home. She offered to ship it to us and all we had to do was to buy a California King mattress.  Looking back somewhere in that first conversation I vaguely remember her saying that we didn't need a box spring and that we only needed a top mattress. 

Simple? So we headed off to the furniture store and before we made it through the bedding department we were approached by a salesman who had us try the electric mattresses with the remote control. Of course when you have all the gadgets it is really hard to go back to a regular old mattress. We bought it not really sure if it would fit in our bed frame but knew enough to buy a California king.  That was two weeks ago. The bed frame came in this past Thursday and we put it together on Saturday. Once we had it all assembled we realized that where the mattresses would set on the bed frame was at least 17" off the floor.

The next day, which was yesterday, the mattress was delivered and placed on the bed frame. I have to say that jarred the memory of my sister telling me that we didn't need a box spring so now the top of the bed stands 43" off the floor with it all assembled! If you are unfamiliar with electric mattresses, they have a base that does all the work with the mattress on top. I am only 5' tall on a good day. Somehow that vital piece of information got lost in the excitement of the announcement of her gifting it to us. My poor husband had no idea what he was in for as I was so excited about the bed itself and didn't think to share that key information when we were buying the mattress. So as the delivery men were leaving I had to ask if they had seen other beds that were that tall and of they both agreed that they had. That gave me a little peace.

The good news was that my sister had also given us a little step stool that went with the bed frame but it was only two steps. We made the bed and then used the steps to get on the side board and then up onto the bed. I used to ride horses in my youth and it reminded me  a lot of mounting a horse. I must admit the bed looks ridiculous but once in it, it is amazing!

After making all our adjustments we turned out the lights only to hear our old cat crying, looking for us.  I had to holler that we were up on the bed, fortunately we had some insight to place an old pet ladder next to the bed and she eventually found us. The kitten had no problem pouncing on us and then bounding off only to turn around and pounce again. Once we were all settled we fell asleep until the dog woke us up wanting to go out. I heard my husband fumbling out of bed trying to find the floor and when I asked if he was okay all he said was that it was a controlled fall! Early on in the morning I woke up thinking about making my way to the bathroom but then decided to wait for the room to get light enough for me to see my way down.  We don't have lamps yet and the light switch is on the wall by the door.

This morning my husband has a few ideas of how to make some adjustments to the bed frame and make it easier to get into. I love that he is creative and only looks at life as an interesting challenge and not a defeat. Again I feel very loved by my sister and my husband both who know that in the excitement sometime we can get lost in the translation only to have the option to experience life as an adventure.