Well, yesterday I saw the inside of my couch. I didn’t wake up wanting to. In fact, with my brother, his wife and kids arriving from Canada for dinner, See the Inside of My Couch didn’t even make the top 10 of my “To Do” list.
Gavin’s friend was visiting for the day. Kyle came down to my office, “Mom, Jubs is _in_ the couch. Eric was holding her and she escaped.” I was in the middle of writing a letter to friends and family, to let them know about Kyle’s newly diagnosed allergies, so I put that on hold to assess the situation.
My first statement upon reaching her last known location was, “O.K. you do realize this is her sleeping time right?” No real response to that but then a “she’s over here, I saw it move”. I instructed everyone to stand by a side of the couch and keep their eyes on the floor. With a pair of scissors I proceeded to carefully slice the fabric down the back of the couch - near the side but not on the seam knowing from past experience that one has to pretty much disassemble a couch if one wants to keep it neat and pretty – and I didn’t have that much time. “Flashlight”, I demanded in much the same way a surgeon demands his instruments. Kyle returned with the flashlight which found Jubs inside the couch quickly scurrying away from it to the farthest corner.
“No, Jubs, go towards the light, towards the light”, I said laughing. No-one else saw the humor. I could see that the dustcover on the bottom of the couch was intact – so it was essentially a one way in, no way out deal since she had fallen from above. Knowing she was safe I had the luxury time to figure things out now. Even before I started slicing up the back of the couch Eric apologized. He was so sorry. I let him know that we weren’t a care-about-the-couch family we were a care-about-the-friends-and-pets family which seemed to lighten his heart.
“The arm of the couch is moving, why is it moving? Is she in there?” I went around to the front corner and started going in through the top seam, peeled back some padding and soon saw a familiar little fur-ball. Rachel reached in and grabbed her but couldn’t pull her out of the opening I had made. We granted Jubs a few more minutes in the Pennies and Popcorn Playground as I went back to my seam-ripping. The boys with the flashlight in the back of the couch provided a play-by-play on her travels inside.
“Oh, Mom, she’s right here. Come here Jubbies…oh I almost got her, nope she’s headed back the other way.” The whole operation took about 12 minutes or so but I finally had a large enough hole opened so Rachel could lure her with treats and grab her. After a thorough vacuuming I put the couch cushions back on and will have to put Sew Couch Back Together on my list for another day. The important stuff (like friendships and Jubs) remained intact.
Have a great day.
Carol
