So among the things we’ve been meaning to do is get the boys new mattresses. Exciting eh?! One of the strangest quirks we discovered about the US is their love of mattress stores. They’re everywhere! Pretty much every shopping center has a mattress shop. When the Godfather’s crew “went to the mattresses” I now imagine he only had to go just out of shot, past that greengrocer’s cart to seek a favor of a fresh supply of memory foam from the local purveyor and then around the corner to the next one….Maybe that’s why the Mob did so well in the US? In England you’ve only got Argos, Ikea, catalogues and the DFS type shops. Darley Dale, Measham, Droitwich etc so it’s a bit of a trek for the English folk. For the English to go to the mattresses, it would have been a logistical nightmare trying to get them all sourced. Not here tho! I know there’s a larger population in the States but it makes me wonder how the all Brits have managed to secure a comfy night’s sleep with such a limited choice of mattress retailers over there.
Anyway, I digress: Rich reminded me this week we should head out and check some out. So with the thought of spending my Saturday in a mattress store, I headed straight to Amazon and now am waiting on Tuesday for them to arrive. I guess I’ll have to wonder a while longer what magic hides inside of one of these shops that so many can be profitable.
We’d decided this would be a good opportunity to freshen up Joshie’s room and also get him out the house. I think he’s been out three times since everything shut down. Joshie never minds not going out. As he’s said from the beginning, he’s always been an expert as social distancing but I’ve missed having a mooch around for bargains. Luckily, Target having a toy and electronic department usually means I can persuade him to join me. He was, as I expected, excellent at social distancing in reality too. Wearing his mask, he ensured he kept six foot away from all the other customers. We had a look at the toy section as he still had some birthday money and he waited patiently each time some kid was stood in his next chosen location.
Then with a toy chosen, we headed to the home ware section and my baby declined the kids’ selection of Minecraft and StarWars themed bedding and chose a rather mature blue patterned duvet. How is this happening so quickly?! I found his old chime pendant toy from those play mats that keep babies entertained (supposedly) the other day and found myself reminiscing about the kids’ baby days and here we are now choosing grown up bedding!
After paying and grabbing a Starbucks which we drank in the car whilst laughing at our wild hair-his the result of his cap and mine…the result of overconfidence, we then descended upon Michaels so I could look at the crafting stuff. I found a few bits. He found a few bits that apparently he really needed too. And we headed to Burger King for his lunch where we sat in the restaurant. It felt a bit weird at first as every other table had signs saying the “thrones” were closed to ensure social distancing. I had to assure him he could remove his mask especially as we were going to be eating!
It’s weird how this is the new norm. It’s second nature to check for masks before I leave the drive now, use the hand sanitizer as soon as we’re back in the car each time. I wasn’t sure I’d actually eat inside the restaurant but it was actually empty and it felt good to be doing something I wouldn’t have thought twice about before. Part of me wanted to pretend everything was all normal again. I felt guilty it wasn’t technically an “essential trip”. But, with that said, it was such a lovely trip out. Fed my soul. Spending time with my boy (and maybe finally stepping inside of Target again). Maybe it was essential in a different kind of way. Both the boys have been so good during these Covid times and I’m looking forward to taking them out to the long missed arcade which is Joshie’s ideal day out. So we’ll go back to staying in for a while and hope that the promise we’ll go one day is not too faraway. And in the meantime, hopefully he can dream of the arcade on his new comfy mattress!
momcraftsite.com 