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No Numbers, Please
My Social Security Number used to be the longest number I had to remember. Then the two digit postal zones turned into five digit zip codes, which turned into nine digit zip codes. Phone numbers also went from two or three digits to seven to ten. To make matters more complicated, we now have to remember cell phone numbers in addition to home, work and fax numbers. Personal Identification Numbers (PINS) get us into our bank accounts and our phone messages. We are overwhelmed with numbers and the importance of those numbers. I overheard a conversation in which someone said, “And I don’t even know my sleep number!” I was delighted to tell this woman that she didn’t NEED to know her sleep number and as a matter of fact, I had a bit of experience on the subject. For those of you who aren’t in the know, the Select Comfort Company successfully marketed their airbed products by changing the name to “Sleep Number,” which is a number that indicates the amount of air pressure in the bed. They’ve even changed the names of the retail stores to the Sleep Number Store. Though there are many airbed brands, the Sleep Number is the most heavily advertised. I was introduced to the airbed phenomenon a few years ago at a hospital following a motor vehicle accident. My banged up body was quite comfortable floating on the cushion of air. (OK, maybe the morphine had something to do with it, too.) It was so comfortable that we purchased a dual control airbed at a local furniture store. We don’t have sleep numbers. We have the choice of Soft or Firm. My husband refers to his perfect inflation ratio as “the butter dish” because it feels like falling asleep in a dish of butter. I find myself wishing I wasn’t so well rested so that I could stay in bed longer. We both dream more vividly and sleep without waking. No, it’s not depression or boredom; it’s comfort. The actual contraption was a little frightening to behold at first. Two individual whale-like pods inflate or deflate beneath a thick mattress cover. The sound of filling the pods is much like a vacuum cleaner and can be startling if you’re not expecting it. But it wasn’t too difficult to set up, which is easy for me to say because I just watched. Because we have never slept better, we’ve become airbed evangelists. At the Minnesota State Fair, my husband encouraged our friends to try out the beds on display. The saleswoman, nodding at our female friend with my husband said, “And what does your wife think of the bed?” “This isn’t my wife,” replied my husband from the display bed. “My wife’s over there.” I gave a little wave from across the aisle to the embarrassed saleswoman and went back to pointing out airbed benefits to strangers. Though we’ve had our airbed for a few years, we still haul people upstairs at our house to let them experience resting on air. We’ve had at least one friend crank up the humidifier, pull up the comforter, and fall asleep for an hour. We’re either fabulous salespeople or poor conversationalists. How many of you have friends that fall asleep on your bed when they come to visit? Here are a few tips for the new airbed owner, culled from real-life experience.
We don’t need sleep numbers at our house. We have Sleep Letters. They are zzzzzzzzz.
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