The Great Deflation

So, we were sitting in bed last night chatting before we turned off the lights, and Sean gets up to go get something to drink, and BOOM, I hit bottom. As most of you know, it is most convenient for us in our traveling to bring with us our formerly faithful air mattress on which to sleep. It has held up well these last 9 months. With a feather topper on it, it even feels like a real mattress - a bit more like Japanese sleeping with it being so low to the ground, but a great bed nonetheless.

Last night, however, we sprung a leak: A very annoying, slow, impossible-to-find leak. Upon my first bottoming-out, I re-juiced it, as you have to do every few weeks to maintain firmness, and we fell asleep, albeit fitfully, only slightly concerned about its ability. At 3am, we both awoke with our shoulders grazing the floor once again. So, sleepy and annoyed, I re-juiced it again. At 6am, BOOM, same thing. Sean just stayed awake, while I rejuiced it one more time, figuring I could do with another 3 hours of sleep before I hit the ground again. And just like clockwork, 9am, BOOM. I stayed there out of sheer indignation, refusing to allow a mattress to get the better of me, but by 9:30am, with my shoulder, side and hip all feeling as if we were out camping, I got up too.

I went to Target and bought a new one. $22 with a guarantee of no leaks for 1 year. And I have to acknowledge that 9 straight months of use is probably pretty good for an air mattress that would normally get used only occasionally under normal circumstances. Here's hoping for 12 months!