pouf!

our chocolate brown bean-like bag that we call "the pouf". I took this picture of it while it was outside drying out from our flooded basement for my 365 picture project but decided it needed it's own blog post. it's become an icon. the stories it would tell if it could talk.
the "pouf" came to us as a wedding gift from Pete and Joene. talk about a white elephant. they had one in their home (only in blue) and when Bill and I would go to their house to visit them (this was before we were married) Bill and I would always cozy up on it (and yes that's how big it was) it was fun to sit on it while we visited but that didn't mean we wanted one! since we didn't have much in furniture when we got married, it found a home in the front room of our house. eventually it made it's way into the basement and that's where it stayed. the boys loved it and it's been a part of their lives forever. they jumped on it, turned it into a slide, played king of the hill, and even slept on it (to this day Brian still likes to sleep on it).
of course, they're favorite thing was to sit on it while playing video games. they were the envy of the neighborhood. all the kids wanted to sit on it and it never changed as they got older. when Steven went to college he begged us to let him take it. with the trip to school being an eight hour drive there was no way we could take it in our van along with everything else he needed. it took up the whole back all by itself and that was with all the seats taken out. we just couldn't move the pouf back and forth to school every year. but Steven persisted. his roommate was able to secure a room at the college that they could store it in during the summer. so we finally agreed (much to Brian's protests), but how could we transport it. we decided that we would tie it up on the roof. okay, it worked in our minds and it would have worked in real life if Bill had done a better job of tying it up. the tarp wasn't tight enough and ended up catching air as we were driving and dragged the van (which I believe was the cause of us evenutally needing a new transmission). I was so afraid that thing would fall off the roof, but we finally made it. Steven had the pouf at school for two years and all his friends thought it was so cool. we were a little smarter in bringing it home. when we visited Steven during parent's weekend in April of his final year at college, we brought it home with us at that time and were able to put it inside the van. Steven and his friends were a little sad (okay, maybe a lot sad) to see it leave before the end of the school year.

You wouldn't believe how many times I've said let's just get rid of it and it's always followed by a trio of "NO's" . I even suggested just leaving it at school and not even bringing it home. even after this flood, I thought maybe it's time to get rid of it but I knew that I really couldn't do it. one of these days, one of the boys will take it with them when they move out and believe me Steven is still trying to figure out a way to get it to California.