A Grand Day Out

When I first got married, I believed that someone was in my closet secretly tape-recording conversations I had with my wife and then in turn selling them to NBC for use as dialogue in their television situation comedy, "Mad About You." Nowhere was this more apparent than in the second episode in the series, "Sofa's Choice," in which Paul Reiser (remember him?) and Academy Award winning actress Helen Hunt set off to a mall to find a new couch. Paul is initially fine with the notion of buying a new couch, but when the discussion turns to getting a divan, or God forbid, a love-seat ("too much pressure") he understands that he - not unlike Howard the Duck - is trapped in a world he never made. I had an eerily similar experience surrounding the purchase of "our first" mattress and box spring. It was important, nay vital, to our relationship for this purchase to be made together. I had no way of knowing this at the time.
Here's what I came away after watching this episode, aside from a profound sense of deja vu: Everything takes four hours. The discussion of where to go in the first place, then which place has the best deal, where we might get something to eat along the way, the discussion of the article before purchase, the haggling with the salesperson before the transaction is made, the actual transaction, the pleasantries and warranty information, and probably a little snack for the hypoglycemia that has set in during the forced march that is a trip to the mall - all of these elements must be considered when planning an adventure out in the world.
Want to increase your difficulty by powers of ten? Take the kid along.