A Living Room that Sleeps Four

 

by Pa Rock

Happy Homebody

I have wanted a recliner since that day in the spring of 2020 when I fell outside while trying to exit a raised flowerbed backward and broke my right arm just below the shoulder.  The break was in a place that could not be immobilized with a cast, and I was forced to wear a sling for several weeks - a most inconvenient situation, especially when I tried to sleep.  The doctor recommended that I try sleeping in a recliner, but I didn't have one and soldiered on through without acquiring one - probably as penance for being so stupid as to fall in the first place.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Two years later I broke my left arm  just below the shoulder from a fall on a wooden ramp that was covered with a very light coat of frost.  I dealt with a different doctor that time but received the same treatment, a sling, and the same recommendation, sleep on a recliner.  Again, I soldiered on trough the recovery by dealing with a sling and trying to sleep in a bed.  Who wants to shop for a major piece of furniture when your arm is broken an you don't feel good?  Our living room is small, and the furniture was less than ten years old, so I made do with what I had.

Then Gypsy came to live with us.  She was an "older" puppy, old enough to know better, but still young and insecure and wanting to make sure that the new humans in her life really loved her.   During the first year that she was with us, Gypsy did some lasting damage to the couch and loveseat, not enough that my son and I couldn't live with it, but enough that we had to get creative with furniture coverings when company showed up unannounced.

A couple of weeks ago when I learned that my other two children would be here over the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided it was time to take the plunge and do some furniture shopping. - and the perfect time (between broken bones) to peruse the recliner market.  

We began at a large, locally owned store, and my first focus was on recliners.  I thought that I wanted something big, plush, and fully automatic - and tried out several.  Some had massage features, which I did not find to be relaxing.  (It felt like rollers going up and down my spine.). Some where heated, which I did like, and a few even sat on lighted bases. - I guess so you find them in the dark.  

Long story short, I finally gave up and walked to the other end of the store to try some old fashioned recliners.  The very nice lady showed me several, but none of those suited me either.  Finally when she walked across the store yet again to show my son some mattresses, I took a break and sat on a nearby couch that proved to be exceedingly comfortable.   I got up, looked it over, and discovered the comfortable contraption contained two recliners, one on each end, with a regular couch seat between the two.

By the time the saleslady returned I was ready to negotiate over the couch.  There was also a matching set of large armchairs with wooden arms sitting close to the couch that looked good with it.  I sat in one of those and was also please with the comfort.   When I asked about those, the saleslady grinned and said, "You know those recline, too, don't you?"  I did not.   Not only did they recline back by pushing on the wooden arms, they laid almost completely flat - like the two recliners in the sofa.

I bought the whole mess, and now I have a living room that can sleep four fairly comfortably!

Gypsy has a bed on the floor and knows she is no longer welcome on the couch.

Bring on that broken leg - Pa Rock is ready!