“Isn’t this romantic?” my husband whispers as we lay next to each other in our respective sleeping bags. “Look at the stars,” he continues. “We haven’t slept under the stars in quite sometime.”
I turn to him in frustration and say, “You are amazing. The bathroom has flooded us out of our bedroom. We’re sleeping on the patio, beneath our daughter’s window, and you call this romantic?”
You’ve got to give this guy a little credit. The eternal optimist, he looks for the bright side in everything and, more important, he likes sleeping outside. I guess you could call me the glass-half-empty gal. In fact, my husband has called me, *gasp* a Negative Nancy. Mind you, my name is Nancy, so I do not like this title one bit.
So here we are, in our backyard, listening to the crickets chirp, looking up at the stars on a balmy summer night. Am I enjoying star gazing with my husband of twenty-two years … unfortunately, no. I’m ticking off my to-do list in my head; follow up with the insurance adjuster, make a copy of the plumber’s bill, should I call the carpet cleaner or start pricing new carpeting? By day four of our camping adventure, I begin to fret about the water bill that will reflect our toilet tank episode (we’re on water rationing here in Northern California) and our electricity bill after 120 hours of non-stop use from the dehumidifiers and fans installed in our bedroom and garage.
“I wonder if the heat will damage the mattress?” questions my husband as we nod off to sleep. We had recently purchased a state-of-the art, ultra-comfortable, environmentally-friendly and EXPENSIVE mattress from the FloBed company in Fort Bragg, California. We were recently in Mendocino, staying at the Alegria Inn, and we slept on a FloBed mattress. It was the best sleep I’ve had in years and I wanted that mattress for my own bedroom. Mind you, I had no intention of purchasing a custom designed mattress on this recent road trip. Yet when you reach a certain age, you appreciate a good night’s sleep.
I sent an e-mail to Dave Turner, the founder of FloBeds, to ask how the mattress would withstand five days of 107 degree heat in a sealed off room. He recommended that I unzip the cotton cover that surrounds the multiple layers of natural latex. Frankly, he wasn’t sure how the latex would perform under the extreme conditions. “If they aren’t crunchy and dried out, you’re good,” he replied. The next day the water restoration people came to reclaim their equipment, take moisture readings, and pronounce our bedroom safe for re-entry.
With trepidation, I unzipped the mattress cover and squeezed each latex layer. They felt as soft as a baby’s bottom. That night, as my husband and I sprawled on our wonderfully cushy mattress, I gave thanks to the stars twinkling outside and breathed a sigh of relief from the comfort of my own bed. Sleeping outside is for the birds!
