Show Pieces

We debunked the bunk bed and put the single bed in the Master bedroom against the wall. We didn't want to get rid of it for a variety of reasons- one of which is we didn't want Asherel to have to sleep on the floor when both boys come home to visit,as they will at Christmas.
Arvo threatened to get all gooey and sentimental on me as he disassembled the bunk bed support he had built years ago.
"Many small feet went up and down this ladder," he said, misty eyed.

I don't need anyone in my immediate world starting to reminisce about the good old days when the children were little. My carefully crafted sheen of self control will be ripped away and I will become a bubbling mass of unconstrained grief. I loved those little kids underfoot. So I told him to go get all weepy elsewhere, while throwing the bunk scraps outside. Harsh yes, but life is cruel. (PS- Remember, exaggeration is a key literary device so don't start sending me emails about how insensitive I am.)

I am not much of a home decorator, but even my unskilled eye could see that the twin bed against the wall of the master bedroom left much to be desired in terms of beauty and design.
"What would you think of me making that pretty...like a day bed with pillows and a nice cover?" I asked Arvo, who had recovered by now, with the bunk ladder out of sight in the garbage pile.
"That's fine," he said.
"I'll do it as cheaply as possible," I said.
And off I went to outlet linen stores. I prowled the aisle of one for many minutes before a saleswoman decided I was either homeless, and just warming myself in the store, or needed assistance.
"May I help you?"
"Yes! I hope you can anyway. I have an ugly bed in a master bedroom- an extra twin bed that we need to keep there. So I want to beautify it."
"You mean like a day bed look?"
I almost kissed her.
"Yes! Is that weird?"
"Oh no, that is quite common."
"Really!?" I don't think I have ever stumbled on appropriate, common decorating schemes before.
"What color scheme?"
"Greens...and most importantly, cheap."
"Cheap is not a color, ma'am."
Neither is bankruptcy."
"OK, I understand. Well, the cheapest option would be two king pillows with shams and a couple of decorative throw pillows."
We scoured the store together. They had only one king pillow and it was not as cheap as I had hoped.
"Pssst," she whispered, "Go next door. They are on sale and they have lots of shams and covers to choose from. Best of all, their favorite color is cheap."
I tiptoed away after giving her a big wink and high five.

When I set all the pillows and decorative cover over the bed, it looked stunning. It is currently my favorite part of my house. As soon as I smoothed the cover and settled the pillows at just the right angle, the dogs leaped up on the bed and stretched out.
"Hey!" I said, "This is not for sleeping on! This is art!"
Arvo shook his head, "Do you want to just put a plastic bag over it?"
"No, but I don't want to have to clean dog hairs off it!"
He left, looking a little disgusted, and Honeybun looked anxiously at me.


Even I have to laugh at myself sometimes. Decorating a bed that I don't want anyone to sleep on. There are homes with such exquisite furniture and decor and pristine carpets that I am nervous entering them. I am just not comfortable in those types of dwellings. They are beautiful, and I love beauty. But those homes have lost sight, in my opinion, of the primary purpose of a home. A home should be a welcoming, unpretentious place where you can be who you are, surrounded by those who accept you anyway.

It is not supposed to be a showpiece, I reminded myself. It is first and foremost a bed. And strange as this is to non-animal people, the dogs are family, thus have rights to the bed too. I have seen homes with large ornate Bibles on the coffee table. Those Bibles, embossed with gold, are too large and too precious for dirty hands to open. Yet the miraculous power of God's word cannot be unleashed if it is unread. And dirty hands are the ones that need it the most. And we all have dirty hands.

"OK, you can stay," I told Honeybun, "But no shedding on it!"

Isaiah 6: 3-7
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
   the whole earth is full of his glory.”
 ⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
 ⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
 ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Luke 5: 12
...When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”