Lysdexia

DH and I have been discussing getting a new bed. He has a long history of back problems and introduced me to futons 20 years ago. I was skeptical, but quickly came to appreciate a futon, and that's what we've used as a mattress ever since. I can't even sleep on a conventional mattress anymore, and after too many hospital nights on a mock tempurpedic, have rejected memory foam as well. We have an antique bed frame but, because it was only a full size and we needed a queen, I came up with a bizarre design whereby we could build a platform out of our old futon frame and rig it so that it would lie flat instead of folding. He and his dad nailed it together, mounted it on the frame, and voila! We tossed a queen futon on top and it was golden. But that was more than 12 years ago.

So elder kid heard me talking about the frustration of going out mattress shopping. And suddenly he made an astounding confession about something he'd been harboring for about 13 years. He said, "Mom, did you say 'futon'?" And I said, "Yes, we're going to replace our saggy lumpy one." Then he said, "You know what? When I was really little, and you said the word 'futon,' I always got it mixed up with 'tofu.' And in my mind, I thought they were the same thing, and that somehow your bed was made out of, I don't know, dried up tofu. But it never occurred to me that that wasn't okay. I mean, maybe they could recycle tofu as a futon. It's soft and foamy. And the bed was comfortable. So I was good with it." Well. I guess my jaw dropped for a minute.

This is the same kid who thought (at age two) that TOFU was "toe food," and he would eat it and watch his feet to see if they grew. He's simply tofu-challenged; that's all there is to it.

Yeah, buddy. tofu/futon. Almost an anagram! And to think I never knew this was rolling around in his head. But, as usual, I don't think I want to know much about what else is rolling around in there.