I have this bed...

It's a wonderful bed...or at least it was.

I bought it back in my attorney days, when I had a big house, an enormous master bedroom, and more money than sense.

It's a sleigh bed. Now, don't go thinking rich, dark woods with sloping edges. This bed is made of tublular steel and strips of aluminum woven in an open weave pattern. It has an antiqued nickle finish.

And it's King Sized....In fact, the bed, from the tip of the headboard to the tip of the footboard, is just shy of 10 feet long. It's huge. And my master bedroom in the manse is 10 by 14. In the room, I have space for the bed, a tiny bedside table, an 1 foot wide tv/book stand, and a very shallow Ikea chest of drawers. There is no more than 10 square feet of open floor space in the room, and most of that is required for the closet and room doors to swing open. One can only gain access to the bed from one side...the other 3 sides are all flush to the walls. (I HATE changing the sheets.)

Oh, yeah...and one box spring and the mattress have been screwed up since my move 2 years ago. There is a VISIBLE ridge in the mattress about 5/8 of the way across the entire length of the bed.

I'm ashamed to say what I paid for the bed, mattress & box springs back in 1998 when I bought them, but all told, the first digit (of 4) would probably be close to a 5.

The dilemma...this bed is just too big...I can't afford a new mattress...and I want to be able to breath in my bedroom. I need to sell it...but there is this nagging voice in my head that says "you'll never get what it's worth."

But is that really the voice with which I struggle...or is it the voice that says..."this is one of the last links to your former life...the one with more power and more prestige and better vacations.....and ulcers and misery and anxiety and bitterness and lack of fulfillment."

How is it that things become so associated with specific times in our lives? Why do I only covet one item in my parents' house--the small dresser topper from my (and my brother's) bedroom--because it is so linked to my memories of childhood.

Do these talismans of the past act as totems with which we tell our story, or are they symbols which we have converted into idols? Why do we need to keep them? Or do we?

If you know the answer, or want to buy a REALLY big bed...let me know. :-)