miss T to get second chance?

does meg's Miss T deserve a second chance?

"Our Tomelilla bedsofa from Ikea bears the stains and wear of loyal service on two continents. She's tired but loyal and deserves a second-chance makeover. Royal-blue Miss Tomelilla joined the Auderset family in Switzerland in 2003, when our babies were not-quite-two (Susannah) and about-to-be-born (Ella). My husband, Stephan, taught math to middle-schoolers while I spent my days cooped up and hugely pregnant, after being ordered by my doctor to “lie down and don’t get up.” With 12 weeks to go in my pregnancy, alone in bed in our Swiss apartment all the livelong day, I was feeling very sad.

At the time Stephan and I had only one sofa, a charcoal-gray Karlanda from the Ikea near Bern. But we needed a bedsofa where Grandma could sleep when she flew over from the USA to entertain Susannah, help me keep Ella from being born too early, and feed the lot of us. The purchase of Miss Tomelilla made that possible: she pulled open to give Grandma a comfy place at night, then folded up during daylight hours.

Baby Ella arrived in June, a few weeks after Grandma had returned to Baltimore. Now Miss Tomelilla hosted round-the-clock feeding sessions and “ssssshhhhhh, Sweet Baby” crying jags. She served us valiantly, never complaining about the infant-related stains that appeared daily. Some were easy to remove (think breast milk); others defied both washing machine and scrub brush (think … well, you’d probably rather not).

We Audersets decided a year later to give Maryland, my home state, a try and, after months of multiple green-card applications, large checks written to the U.S. State Department and a whole lot of crossed fingers, we boarded a plane. Miss Tomelilla traveled by boat, locked up in a large metal shipping container along with our bed, bikes and few other assorted odds and ends.

Miss Tomelilla served us well in Switzerland, hosting a slew of guests, including Grandma, Aunt Becky, our friend Liza from Belfast and another friend, Lynne, in town from Paris. She moved house yet again after our arrival in the U.S., but now rests in our living room where Ella and Susannah regularly feed her breakfast cereal and chocolate milk, and our formerly feral kittens, Silver and Strawberry, lounge across her back, stretched out like only kittens can. Miss Tomelilla bears the marks of a life well-loved: her once bright-blue cover is faded and spotty, with a few small holes, pulls and splitting seams. She’s like a road map of my family’s early years, and we love her. She definitely deserves a second-chance makeover.

(Note: Here is a picture of how Miss T looks clothed in “Cinnabar Red,” but she is especially fetching in an outfit from the new Bemz “Mix and Match” line: Palette Xanthous, with Old Gold/Brown on the bottom, Moss Green on her seat cushions and Prisma Stripe Moss Green on her pillows. Unfortunately, “Mix and Match” photos can’t be saved.)" - Meg



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