The Adventures of Shoe & Bean: Apple Bed

We are saying goodbye to a good friend this week. One who has been with my sister and I, and again with my brother, through many nights -- restful and sleepless; days -- quiet and rowdy and sunny and cold. Our friend has held us when we cried, held us while we were tickled and kept us warm through winter nights and sickness.

So long Apple Bed. You will be missed.

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The Adventures of Shoe & Bean:

APPLE BED

There has been a great tradition in my family of hard work and a common belief that if you can make it at home, you ought to. And we did, or did our best to piece together something better. So when my sister and I wanted the newest Barbie doll house, Dad built us a mansion with his own two hands. Mom wallpapered it and put in carpet and painted all the walls, and the flowers outside. When we wanted to have our own TV show, my parents cut a hole in a cardboard box, made a microphone, and we put on a show. And when we wanted a playhouse in the winter my dad lugged a refrigerator box home and built a castle. My mom drew the doors and windows and we filled it with all of our favorite things.

And when we were getting bigger, all done with our cribs and toddler beds, taking up space all over the house with our dolls and Barbies and stuffed bears and toys, we asked for a bunk bed. And my dad built us a forest.  And my mom painted nature.

Apple Bed was born, a labor of love and devotion, sawdust and wood chips, nails and screws, through the day and night in the same garage I now sit, raising funds to bring home our little ones. When I was 5 years old Apple Bed entered our lives forever and no bed has compared.

Apple Bed filled our small room from closet door to wall. She had four tall trunks sculpted with care by my dad that reached from the floor to nearly the ceiling and I slept in her leaves and branches. The canopy of four trees made the top bunk. And as the oldest, naturally it was mine. Every night I would climb the rope ladder to my tree house bed and held by Apple Bed's branches dream of adventures and fairy tales.

Bean slept atop a set of built in drawers. Yes, built in drawers before the days of pinterest and blogging, my dad created space and organizational miracles. Bean fell asleep under the sturdy, peaceful canopy. Mom painted branches and with blue sky shinning through. And sleeping bears to keep watch…just in case.

Apple Bed was, of course, made of apple trees so mom and dad used dresser draw knobs which they painted red as apples hanging in the trees. Grass and flowers lined the bottom all the way around Apple Bed. She was beautiful, perfect. And we felt loved. And everyone one who had the pleasure of seeing Apple Bed was in awe, "You made that?!" they would ask Mom and Dad. And they would beam, "Yes. Yes, we did."

Bean posing so perfectly!
Also notice the desk turned shrubbery in the corner.

From age 5 to 11, I spent my nights sleeping in her branches and my days pretending adventures all over her massive self. Because what child would not LOVE to pretend adventures next their own magical forest? Bean and I would be in the jungle one day, the north tall pines the next, an imagined world of princesses and princes the day after. And the next…just simply sitting quietly together in our bed. Our one of a kind, made from scratch, with loving care, by our own two parents bed.

Some of the best adventures are these:

In the fourth grade I had friends over for a slumber party and we all clambered up to the top bunk. We sat together and chatted as 9 and 10 year old girls do. I have no idea about what but I do remember that it was one of my favorite days. Anne-Marie, Jessica, Kayla and I, and others, chatting about our complicated lives and wondering about what the future would hold.

If you remember in a previous post, Bean and I fancied ourselves mountain climbers and lead many an expedition to our sledding mountain armed with our jump rope and garden tools, you know, as ice picks! So it's only natural that we would take our expedition to the towering trees. Armed, again, with our trusty jump rope, we made the daunting climb to the top of the jungle canopy. And it's funny now how we thought we were, quite literally, at the top of the world. We tied our rope to the holds on the tree/mountain (whatever it was. We were never known for our pretend consistency.) and got ready to repel down. And without fail, Mom would yell from the far corners of the house, "You better not be climbing on the bed! You're going to fall!" And we would think if we were quiet enough we could get away with it. Sometimes we did. I would make the first moves and swing a leg over the edge. Grab tight to the rope that was so securely fastened, and drop down. It was only a couple feet, but to a couple of girls who were, and still are, rather short, it was miles. And that feeling of relief when my toes touched the mattress blew, there was nothing like it! Bean was always a little more hesitant about risky climbing maneuvers. I'll have to ask her if she ever got her leg over the edge.

One of the best and most memorable stories about Apple Bed is from one of the rare occasions that Bean was sick. She was never sick as a child, whereas I was always sick. And on this one rare occasion we just happened to get brand new, perfectly matching the bed green comforters. Bean was laying on the bottom bunk and sick with the flu. In the middle of the night, she awoke with the all too familiar feeling of nausea. Bean and I are different in many ways, one of which is our reaction to nausea. I will do whatever I can to make it end. Bean will fight through it for as long as it takes. So when her little body could no longer hold it in, she weighed her options. Afraid of getting in trouble for ruining her new comforter, she quickly rolled over to the edge of the bed and promptly threw up...in my pants drawer below. Thank you Bean, for that wonderful morning surprise. My fuchsia jeans were never the same. Don't tell the new owners that the top drawer was puked in! 

And as Ro's got to be old enough, he too was loved by Apple Bed, although not in the whole, but in parts. Mom and Dad lovingly carried the heavy sturdy bed out of the garage where she lay in wait for another child to hold. And when brought home this burly, cute babe, we knew she would be well loved again, with many new adventures to share.

And I'm sure there were more and more memories and adventures. Most definitely Bean and Mom and Dad and Ro' and I will spend the night laughing and rolling together as we remember these stories.  Apple Bed will be taken down from the rafters of the garage and bought to a new home. And as silly as it sounds I think all of us may shed a few tears when she is loaded on the trailer and driven off. 

The end of an era, goodbye to a childhood friend.