I Take Pride In My Humble Means

Like a mirage in a desert, this couch was an unbelievably good yard sale find.  A few months before I got married and moved out of my dad's house, Jessi (my maid of honor, bff, rowdy sidekick) and I went yard sale hunting.  The goal was to furnish a house for cheap.  When we pulled up to the house we saw a sofa and couldn't believe that it said $75.  We pulled closer and saw that it wasn't $75, instead it was $15.  We were excited.  I bought it, we loaded it in my dad's F150 and I slip-covered that sucker.   We've been together for 9 years, 2 slipcovers, and 1 queen sheet.  It was at our first house where we would drag it out on the front porch when a bunch of people came over, and has served us very well in our current home.

(Random memory: for the months and weeks leading up to the wedding, I piled so much stuff into my dad's house.  At one point we had 2 couches, 2 love seats, and several chairs in his little living room.  His hallway was full of wedding gifts.  He never said a word or seemed to mind.  Good times.)

For the 9 years that we've been together, I've taken pride in my humble means.  Does anyone else ever do this?  Feel so good for being not-fancy?  We've tried to make the couch work and pretended that we can't see it's ugly plaid through the off white slipcover.  We've talked about how we like her shape and a solid back without cushions.  When people sit in that one spot and the couch makes that funny noise, I don't apologize for it.  Instead, I am all pridefully humble.  The truth is I really love what she says about this house-we're not fancy.  We don't need new things.  We'll take seconds, gladly.  We're humble.  And I'm proud to say it.  

This week, we're giving her away.  I've been given the opportunity to go and pick something out that is new and quite fancy.  While it's hard to let go of the fun times and memories of our first humble couch, it's harder to let go of my pride.  While some people take pride in having nice things, others of us take pride in not needing nice things.  Both are wrong.  Both place value on things and let them define who we are.  When I get my new couch, I'll have to sit on it a lot and think about this.  Feel free to join me.