The Fabric Burrito

A heavy 4’ x 2.5’ box was dropped off on our porch the other day. 

If I didn’t know what was inside, I’d be thinking it’s the umpteenth shelving unit that David received from IKEA that he’s going to put together, or music room equipment – this could be ANYTHING, I couldn’t even begin to guess what – or bulk food for SheaDoggy. Maybe even a small freezer for our bedroom 😊 to indulge my periodic Ben and Jerry’s obsession. 

But a king-sized mattress? No frigging way.

My mom would’ve been horrified that not only did we shop online for such an essential item so important to our well-being but that it came flat as a pancake. She touted a comfortable “firmness” as the be-all and end-all for a quality mattress, just like she spoke about the need for good "supportive” shoes, both of which she believed would lead to proper spine alignment and a healthy life. 

This is our second experience with purchasing a memory foam mattress in under a year. The first was bought for a spare bedroom; this time it was for our bedroom.  

Initially, it was recommended by our kids when we were redoing our upstairs. We followed their suggestion and bought it without too much of our own research other than to compare prices of similar mattresses.

When they came to visit and raved about the good night’s sleep they had, David began to wonder if we too should buy this kind of mattress to alleviate some of his back and hip pain.

Since he had a particular goal in mind, he combed through copious amounts of information to dissect the pros and cons of foam mattresses as well as compare companies that offer similar products, thousands of reviews and very generous return policies.

We decided to go for it. One week later, it arrived.        

With Lauren and Anas’ assistance, we all lifted the old mattress from our bed and started the process of unpacking the new mattress.      

When we opened the box, it looked like a rolled-up fabric burrito, tightly compressed in vacuum-wrapped packaging. We straightened it out, sliced open the plastic and began to shimmy the mattress on to the carpet.

It began to expand, but very slowly. I was a bit nervous at first that it was going to be too thin to provide any comfort or support at all, but then I decided just go with it, trust the process.  

After letting it do its thing for several hours, we then got into bed and...had a glorious night of sleep.  

It’s been this way ever since.