In and out of furniture stores to find exactly the right couch, I had very specific things in mind. I want legs I can see. I don't want skirts. Not too soft - I'm tired of everyone falling asleep on my couch. Not too deep. (I'm only 5'3".) Must look feminine - after all, soon I'll be the last one left in this house. "THIS one is for ME!", I thought. And the cushions? They simply MUST be firm.
A quick post on facebook asking if anyone needed a couch prompted an immediate text from a friend. She knew someone who needed a couch. They had a truck, their own muscles, and were willing to pick it up immediately. So I continued to shop so that we would not go without a couch for too long. And in store #3, I found my new set.... Quickly I got a hold of the young man and made arrangements for him to come and get the couch. That was Monday. It is Wednesday now, and I have lost track of how many times I have gone into the living room to sit down and........... can't! The new couch doesn't come until tomorrow. So not only is my house empty of kids, but my living room empty of furniture. It sure is quiet..............
Realizing that I obviously spend a LOT of time in my living room - With nowhere to SIT today, I decided to go for a long walk. And on that walk, I thought about my couch. Silly, huh? But wait - Not really.........
At first I thought - I hope this young man enjoys that couch.
That big green, comfy couch has been in our family for a decade. I bought it before my Dad died. Many nights 2 to 3 kids would fall asleep on it, and I would call their parents to reassure them they were okay, and that they could spend the night. One of my earliest memories on it was the night after my Dad died. The kids were little and they had both crawled in bed with me, and had cried themselves to sleep. When I knew they were asleep, I came quietly downstairs and cried out loud for a long time on that couch, just me. I studied with Lisa and Jason on that couch during my A&P class, wondering if I would be accepted into nursing school. I did, and then I studied for nursing school on that couch with Marianne, Tim, Raelina, Nicole, and Robert. We studied for our boards on that couch. We ate pizza on that couch. We laughed a LOT on that couch.
I cried over the loss of my good friend Michele on that couch. I spent a summer doing a Beth Moore study with my friend Kathy, getting to know each other and becoming friends with a bond only sisters in Christ understand. The big green, comfy couch spread out its arms and held as many as could fit as a young woman told the story of how she got involved in ministry with young women being trafficked for sex. My small group has met for 3 years straight on Thursday nights there on that couch. Brenda, Cheri, Angie, Kathy, Lisa, Marti, Merri, Kristen, Shari, Megan, and I have shared life's ups and downs in our small group there on that couch, and shared stories about life, and kids, and school, and work, and marriage, and death.....
My kids' youth groups met on that couch. And my high school girls' small group met on that couch. (That couch has swallowed a LOT of popcorn!) So many Louie Giglio sermons were watched while on that couch! In fact, I bet that couch sat through "Fruit Cake and Ice Cream" at LEAST 750 times.
Many nights I waited up on that couch for Rory or Ian to come home. Hundreds of mother-and-son conversations have taken place there. Years and years of the kids' homework assignments have been done on that couch. Many nights the kids would fall asleep there, and I would leave them. The big green comfy couch was just that comfy........ Just ask anyone.
So, you see, in the 48 hours since my couch has left to be part of someone ELSE's life, I have realized not only that so many of the more meaningful things in life have happened on that couch, from difficult conversations, to the building of friendships, to lots of fruit cake and ice cream, to just the comfort of knowing you're "home" - That I'm a little sad tonight. But I'm feeling very thankful for the people I have shared it with who I love very, very much.
Oh, if that couch could talk! I think it would remind me of the scripture in Malachi 3:16 that says, "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name."
And I can't help but wonder - What will happen in the next 10 years in my family as we share the new couch that will arrive tomorrow?
Oh, and did I mention? - It's brown. That's right. It's a big, brown, comfy couch. Now, doesn't that just make you giggle? It does me!
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