The Jumping Couch

I've been reading my friend Heidi's hilarious blog and THIS post about the need for creepy houses in the lives of children inspired the following comment from me. As I re-read it before posting (must check for those offensive little spelling errors), I realized the profound truth my words conveyed, so I post them here to enlighten your lives (perhaps with a tad bit of embellishing).

This is exactly why I don’t like living in the suburbs. Everything is too clean and shiny and perfect. Childhood just doesn’t thrive in the suburbs. Where's the adventure? The ability to build secret forts in abandoned places, to find priceless treasures hiding in the alleys, to take your friends to elaborate worlds you've created in your backyard "forest?" This is why I ocassionally allow messiness in my house–spookiness can be found in my junk room, and endless crafts come from the stuff that is piled on counters. In our family room, we lounge on a Clawson family fixture, the "jumping couch"--a 20 year-old sectional inherited from my parents that I have personally slip-covered with denim 3 times in 12 years. Elaborate games of tag could be played on the "jumping couch," while my kids and their friends got out the rainy day wiggles (we have a lot of those in Oregon). Huge forts have graced my house over the years, built with the 13 cushions lounging on that couch. Monstrous pillow slide competitions were held on our flight of stairs, also using those marvelous cushions.

Now that my kids are older, the couch seems a little more tattered. The denim is worn thin where bodies have the most contact. The springs kind of hang out the bottom in some places and my dad can't get out of it without help because the seats are so saggy. Still, I can't imagine ever getting rid of it, and at least one of my children wants to inherit it when I "die" (hahaha). Although I don't want to admit it, grandchildren will be running around my house in not too many years. More than likely they will live in the suburbs. Life will probably be harder for them than for their parents in this ever unstable time, but when they visit grandma and grandpa, they will always have the jumping couch, and everything will be right with the world.