When I delivered the dresser I refinished for my grandchildren, my daughter asked if I wanted the bed that used to be in the spare bedroom. She did not need it or have room for the bed since they no longer have a spare bedroom. I said sure. We could use a new or at least newer mattress, ours is old and worn.
This newer bed was complete, bed frame for support, box springs and mattress. I would no longer need the bed frame we were using. The bed frame was made of stout wood, 2 inches X 12 inches, a little big for a bed frame. Instead of going under the mattress and box spring, the frame was on the outside, with the box springs and mattress on the inside. In the dark, I and my husband have bumped a shin bone on the frame, and the house would hear the sound of pain. With a new bed, I would be able to get rid of the old one. It should not take long to remove some bolts, and take the bed frame outside. I have plans on using the wood for another project, so keeping the boards in one piece was desirable.
Getting rid of the old one was more of a job than I thought. The bed frame was handmade by my husband’s son when he was in high school. It was his son’s bed frame. His son made the bed frame from wood boards held together by bolts and nuts. As I began taking the bed frame apart, I recognized the bolts as something that would go on a piece of farm machinery. The bolts were 1/2 inch in diameter. He had put the bed together, then painted it covering all the bolts, the bolt threads, and nuts. In removing the bolts, I had to remove the paint first. Some of the bolts were stripped or cross threaded, meaning taking longer with more work to remove the nuts.
After three hours of work, I was ready to cry. I had wanted to surprise my husband with a new bed. I still had two sides still bolted together. There were other things that I absolutely needed to get done. And I was in the middle of a project I was committed to finishing if we were going to have a place to sleep tonight.
I sat down, and had a good cry. Ok, now the emotions are released, time to get back to work. Sometimes it is good to release emotions in a safe way, to free up the energy to accomplish what we are working on, instead of using that energy to contain the emotions. We all have emotions and things that get to us. It is good to take a few minutes to acknowledge the emotions, breathe, regain ourselves then move forward.
I finished dismantling the bed frame, placing it outside to be moved to a storage shed. Swept the floor and mopped. This bed had been there for seven years, years of dirt in the middle where the broom did not reach, to clean and mop out. Now the floor was ready for the new bed.
My husband arrived home after I had cleaned the floor. He assisted with placing the new bed frame, box springs and mattress in our room. Things go so much easier with a helper. My husband is a good helper. He told me he would have helped remove the old bed frame, and it would have been easier with two instead of my alone. Sometimes, I want to surprise him, and I “bite off more than I can chew in a reasonable amount of time”.
How often we try to live life on our own. We do fine sometimes. Then there comes a time we think we can handle the situation on our own, and we “bite off more than we can chew.” I know I have done this several times in my life. Usually when I am sitting alone, crying due to things not turning out the way I had planned, I look up and see where my help is. Does it change the outcome? No, but helping me to get back on my feet, facing forward and moving through the problem I created, He is always there to help and assist.
Sometimes it is work to remove the old things and ways in our lives that are not good for us. Sometimes it hurts, makes us angry, and we want to give up. But if we stop, look up to the one who is always there to assist and help us, things get better.
I am glad the old bed is gone. I am looking forward to a good night’s rest, and no more banging my shin bone on a hard wooden frame.
amtolle
Me, Myself and I 