Miss Simplee Sufficient

 

I've always said "the true test of a relationship is IKEA furniture." So how did my boyfriend and I do with our recent IKEA Test? Well...

After living in several apartments I can say I've put together my fair share of IKEA furniture.  While many people have different opinions on the brand, I truly like their products and have been quite happy with the quality for the price.  Something I also enjoy about their products (which many may disagree with) is the "fun" of putting it together.  I like assembling things and they have pieces that are simple enough to entertain the little carpenter within me.  However, some of those pieces are best assembled with a partner, and the partner you choose can be just as important as the hardware you use to hold the pieces together.  My warning to you.. be careful of the person you choose to help you.  You will learn a lot about your relationship with that person.

Some couples just can't work together and that's a fact.  I wanted to see how my boyfriend and I would do because we seem to work well together with any other small projects we attempt.  The biggest issue with this type of project is communication.  You can't assume the other person knows what you're thinking or that you know the best way to do something.  You must approach each step together and verbally communicate your plan.  This all might seem a little intense for putting a few pieces of wood together with screws but, if you think about it, all these little skills go hand in hand with daily life.

Due to other circumstances we were unable to begin putting together furniture until about midnight last Friday.  Right off the bat that is a bit of a disadvantage not to mention that he spent the whole day in 100 degree weather moving furniture to his new apartment...but we went for it anyways.

We decided to only put the bed together and I was planning on that to go pretty smoothly since I have the same bed at my apartment now.  All in all we did a good job of moving pieces together, discussing the directions, and working together.  Unfortunately he ended up with a headache from being dehydrated from working in the heat all day and  ultimately wasn't feeling too well.  But, I worked feverishly since I had done it before to help get it done as quickly as possible and reading ahead in the directions to have him work on the next steps while I finished the current ones so he wouldn't have to look at the directions while his head was pounding in pain.

I began to think my relationship test had be ruined since he wasn't able to contribute as much since he wasn't feeling well, but then I realized something.  Life is exactly like that.. we don't always have the perfect scenario for what we are trying to accomplish.  Life isn't always like an IKEA product that has precut pieces, picture directions, and the exact parts you need to make it work.  Sometimes you're missing a few parts and you certainly don't have directions that accompany your life.  I also realized that in any relationship there are good days and bad days for each person.. that night was his bad night and I picked up the slack.  Conversely, he would do the same for me.  During his time of "weakness" (ok he might not be too happy I'm describing it as that) I used my "strength" of previous knowledge of the product and experience of putting my own bed together to help us accomp

lish the task.  I took control when he was unable to and asked for help when I needed it and explained what he could do to help.

When most of the heavy work was done he finally went down the road to CVS to get some medicine and I wanted to surprise him by getting it all done, sheets and all.  So I hurried to get the new mattress from the living room to the bedroom.  Which by the way was quite a task as it is a memory foam type mattress that is kind of flimsy and difficult to maneuver for one person.  Thank goodness his roommates weren't there to see me "dancing" with the mattress down the hallway!  I managed to get the mattress in and the sheets and pillows on by the time he returned.  I think he was really excited and relieved that it was done and now had a nice new bed to sleep on after a long day.

So after all, my so-called relationship test wasn't ruined; it was actually made better.  After that night we still had a few pieces to put together the next day and we did those without too much trouble.  Now I can happily say that we passed the IKEA Test!  

 

 

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