This day that year - I

March 24, 2006

The Big Blue Sofa

I am yelling at my husband. Again.

"You and your #$@% veto! I don't want to hear that word any more, unless I'm the one saying it! I swear if we can't agree on at least one boy name and one girl name soon, I'm going to go with my own choice. You can veto till you're blue in the face, I don't care!"

He is sprawled on our enormous blue sofa, cushions precisely arranged to ensure that his angle of recline allows him a straight line of vision to the TV. Assorted remotes and a late-night snack are laid out on the broad arm of the sofa.

He flashes his crooked, boyish grin at me. "Relax, will you? Look, I've set everything up. Star Trek: The Next Generation. Come on!" He plumps up the cushions he's arranged for me.

I mutter evilly about lazy fat asses as I heave my bulk in next to him, but I'm not really upset. The big blue sofa seems to magically expand to accomodate us - the husband, who no one can accuse of being a small man, me, fully nine months pregnant, and four outsize cushions, so big that we sometimes use them as floor cushions.

The sofa was the first piece of furniture we acquired after we got married, custom-made for us in Bangalore by a friend in the furniture business. We had no idea what he was sending us, having told him only that we wanted an L-shaped sofa, and that it should be blue. I was quite nervous until it arrived, 2 pieces that fitted in an L shape, each the size of a twin bed. It was deeply blue and absolutely perfect.

When we are at home, our life plays out on the sofa. Talking, eating, reading, watching TV, playing Scrabble, fighting, making up (and out ;-), and falling asleep cuddled up against one other with the lights still on. We have spent the better part of 3 years on this sofa, so much so that its grooves appear to have moulded to fit our bodies.

Tonight, I stretch out in my groove and adjust my husband's arm around me as the familiar opening track of Star Trek: TNG plays. I know this baby is coming soon, and that life as I know it will change for ever.

What I don't know yet is that in just a few days, when we come home from hospital with our firstborn, the beloved blue sofa will be the first place she will rest her head.

Edit:
Just found this picture of Moppet on the sofa, napping by the window after her bath. It's not her first day at home, but she's certainly not more than a week old in this one. She would spend most of the day on the sofa, and move to her crib only at night.

Sadly however, this is not a tradition that Munch will have the pleasure of following. When we moved to Bangkok, we thought long and hard and eventually gave away / sold all our furniture and appliances, including the sofa.

My only consolation is that the sofa went to another young couple like us who were furnishing their first home. I hope it is part of as many fond memories for them as it was for us.