Baby bed

A final trip to Ikea was made yesterday. It wasn’t the first time, and a friend even joked that my ‘vacation’ here in Strasbourg was spent in the aisles of Ikea. We bought a baby bed, and two cupboards. Though my friend moved to this new place almost three weeks ago, it still looks like we just moved in…suitcases, clothes, odd bits and pieces here and there, cluttering the corridors and what little space there is in this new apartment.

Mounting Ikea furniture is no brain teaser. There are easy-to-follow instructions, and all the necessary screws and bolts are included. Everything is multilingual, and if you still don’t’ understand, the picture of a man scratching his head and thinking about calling Ikea should be clear enough. It’s like a puzzle, each piece of furniture, which is supposed to piece together nicely, provided you don’t loose any crucial component…or (like me) carelessly bore through the holes already in place…or (like me) hammer nails which look like they’ve been twisted by the head.
After several hours of puzzling, nailing (with a pan because we didn’t have a hammer handy…improvisation, I believe it’s called), screwing and twisting, two lovely cupboards were ready to receive their loads. And a baby bed, with the full kit of mattress, quilt, blanket and pillow, was made too.

I folded the quilt up nicely…it has drawings of colourful butterflies, dragonflies, bees and insects on it, each cartoony figure with a lovely smile on their faces. Stuff of fairy tales and fantasies. Stuff of dreams and imaginations. As I made the bed, still empty now but not for long, a sudden surge of warmth came over me. It was an emotional moment. No doubt my friend felt it too. It already looks so peaceful, so complete and so meaningful empty…imagine what it will look like when an angelic little face on a little head is resting on that pillow, under quilt, blanket and a cover of motherly love…Stuff of fairy tales and fantasies. Stuff of dreams and imaginations.

Here in our midst.