Goodbye sofa 

Last weekend we said goodbye to our lovely sofa. Lucy cried when it was picked up by its new owners. She commented that it has been the only sofa she has ever had in her whole life and she was right. For twelve years our lovely sofa sat at the centre of our home, reminding us to never again succumb to the lure of buy now, pay later. In that time our sofa has witnessed intense joy and immense sadness and and it even made the big journey with us to the other side of the world. I will never forget how grateful I felt to my core when it finally made it to our first Auckland home, freshly off the container after weeks and weeks at sea. After three months sitting on either a hard wooden floor or a camping chair, I was filled with so much joy when I could finally sit down in comfort and snuggle into the cushions. Living without what I had previously taken for granted was transformational for me and I have consistently listed the sofa on my gratitude lists ever since.

Looking back to the first few years of sofa ownership, much of my energy was engaged not in enjoying the sofa but on stopping Bubber (our dog) from sneakily climbing up onto it. As time passed on, I began to wish that he was still able to climb onto it and then ultimately that he was still here to slobber all over it. The things we have, that sit in the background of our homes have the power to connect us with memories good and bad and are a constant silent presence against a backdrop of noise.

On cold days and sick days and sad days our sofa was a perfect place to snuggle. Sometimes it was too perfect and too comfortable and I would curl up after a day at work and fall asleep long before bedtime. In recent years my energy has been engaged in really enjoying the sofa, loving it, appreciating it and being thankful to have it. 

 I felt pretty emotional when I realised we would have to let it go and could not take it with us on the next stage of our adventure but we will need something smaller and if the past 7 years have taught me anything it is that things ultimately do not really matter. 

I am very grateful to have had such a lovely thing for so long but mostly I feel blessed by all the life that has been lived with the sofa at the centre. Lessons have been learned in its care and decisions have been made but most importantly it has been a place of love and warmth and a place for family. 

Thank you.