Bed Knobs and Retirement Plans

Buying the first house, first full time job, perhaps the first time you think really think about insurance, or turn down a night out on the town to secretly stay in and watch TV instead. Something buried in these events sets off a small signal to us that the inevitable is happening: we're becoming adults. I write tonight because I had a moment like that tonight.

No, it wasn't a house, a 401K, a baby (yikes) or anything like that, no for me it was a headboard. Yes, you read that right, a headboard.

For the past 10 years I have lived a perfectly fulfilled life without a headboard - a piece of furnture that to me serves no purpose yet you find on all "grown-up" beds. Suddenly it's not okay to have your mattress pushed up against the bare wall anymore, you instead need a large piece of furniture to prevent you from spontaneously flying through the wall. (Get your mind out of the gutter Flom) Pulling your bed out of the corner of the room makes sense as if you're hopefully lucky that there is now a 2nd person having to get out of your bed (whether or not it's always the same person is a whole seperate conversation) but a head board really is only something that is put into bed rooms to make them seem - well more grown up. When we're young, if you're lucky you had a fun bed that head a firetruck headboard or doll house head board who's purpose was to play with - but then it goes away and we go headboard-less only to have it come back later in life much like so many other things.

Well this weekend, while surfing the internet sometime after 4am on Saturday night in search of a cheap dresser I found a "bed room set" on Craigslist that included a big dresser, two side tables and...gulp, a headboard. The price was too good to pass up and now two days later I find all the items in my bed room. The side tables serve a purpose, currently filled with junk and socks, the dresser rescued me from the wire mesh stackable crates I bought for my college dorm room some 7 odd years ago, but then there was the headboard, currently in place and beginning to collect dust and make it more difficult to change sheets.

Now I know what you're thinking, this really isn't a big deal - but for a kid who still fights back whenever anyone uses the term "settle down" and who gets itchy if he stays in any city for much longer than a month, this was a big hit. I used to try and keep my belongings so I could pack my life in two suitcases and two boxes, granted that was before the piano. Sigh, and now I have a headboard. I do wish I could call my mother and tell her of my purchase, and hear her tell me how it's good for me. And like everything else she'd probably be right, however I still fear that this kid will sleep uneasy tonight with that big wooden symbol of adulthood hanging over my head - literally!