For a long time, Rose said she didn’t like our old fold-down, futon-on-a-frame couch. She didn’t think it was comfortable. Well, it wasn’t a dream couch, but it didn’t bother me enough to want to hunt down a better one. We’d gotten it new when we got up here to Alaska, and it had been an improvement over the ancient, government-issue one we’d had when we lived in Virginia. But it did have more than a decade of good use on it (although it still looked like new), and if we could find a decent replacement without paying an arm and a leg, I was okay with replacing it. So Rose began the hunt and had me sit on prospects when we were in various stores together.

Between the two of us, I think we sat on every style of couch there is for sale in Fairbanks, and I didn’t really like any of those I tried. In my view, none of the ones I sat in were an improvement over what we had, and many were big steps backwards. But Rose soldiered on, and when I got back from fieldwork in Russia at the end of June she said she’d found a brand of couch that was very comfortable, that she was sure I’d like, but that it was expensive. How expensive? Jesus, I didn’t know you could spend four to five thousand dollars on a goddamn couch! That’s more than our two main vehicles are worth put together. But then we had to ask ourselves, which do you spend more time sitting on? Our commute here is about 12 minutes each way, so the answer was easy. A comfortable couch could make a difference.

That kernel of thought percolated around in my distracted brain while I tore into an important proposal to the National Science Foundation with a too-close deadline. Then an email from Rose popped up asking me to look at a couch on Craig’s List. I’d never been on this electronic marketplace before, but the couch Rose had me looking at was an impressive way to get the quality she liked at an affordable price. In Anchorage. With a matching love seat. I emailed thumbs up, and Rose quickly ascertained from the seller that they didn’t have pets, didn’t smoke, and were getting rid of the furniture because the couch wasn’t comfortable for laying down on to take a nap. Sounded good to us, so we bought it. Then, given our hectic schedules, we had to figure out how to pick it up. Thankfully, the owners had already replaced the set, and this one was sitting in their garage, which gave us some flexibility. So we aimed for a narrow window determined by my getting the proposal submitted, Rose returning from a steel drum workshop in Denver, and the sellers’ garage sale.

And so it came about that I picked Rose up on a Saturday night at about midnight, and that on Sunday morning we were on the road to Anchorage in a nonstop rain. Well, Eagle River, which is close enough. We’d thrown camping gear into the truck so that we could stop and sleep on the way back, but with the rain we decided to hustle and do it all in one day rather than have the furniture sitting in the open back any longer than absolutely necessary. It was six hours down and close to that coming back; we left at 0900 and got back at 2145. I’d picked up enough tarp and rope beforehand to be sure that we could get the furniture home dry, but a steady rain made us hustle anyway. Oh—after getting the couch and love seat, the sellers had asked whether we wanted the matching ottoman and end table. It sounded good, so we bought those, too, and so we had a good truckload on the way back.

Late Sunday evening we backed up to the garage and unloaded everything to be sure it stayed dry. And once we got it off, we actually sat in it. And it was everything that Rose had said. I was amazed at how comfortable a couch could be. Monday evening, with Jack’s help, we got it into the living room, and it still felt great. In fact, it’s felt great every night since for a whole week. This is the first time we’ve had a matching set of furniture, and Rose said, insightful as ever, that it felt like we must be grown up. Right on. Man, it is comfortable being grown up! The closest thing I think I’ve sat in is first class on new airplanes. Each seat on the couch reclines (without a footrest coming up), and the headrest catches you just so. Last night watching the news I just drifted off like a happy passenger on Couch Airlines, silently giving Rose a top grade in Couch Science.