Three words...

Heated - Mattress - Pad

We were a decade into eternity when I crawled into bed for the

last time with cold feet. 

I'm not a fan of flannel sheets and therefore the cold, crisp sheets I loved in the summer, felt like a freezing sheet of ice during the winter months.  I tried going to bed with warm fuzzy socks and extra blankets but nothing really worked and I never looked forward to getting into bed because I knew how cold it was going to be.  During the first part of our marriage, the one thing that would get me through those cold nights were Ryan's warm feet. 
Me and Ryan in happier times, before he denied me warmth.

When I say warm, I mean hot and toasty, heater-like-feet.  As soon as he got into bed, I would put my ice pop feet on his and warm them and he seemed happy to oblige.  However, as time went on and the novelty of making sacrifices for your spouse wears off, Ryan decided he didn't like it.  In fact he said, and I quote, "If you put your cold feet on me again, I'm gone." Of course, I would take offense.  After all, I had cooked him hot meals most of the week, the house was in pretty good shape and the kids were still alive.  So, tell me again why after my hard day at home, I can't warm my cold feet on you?  There were late nights spent arguing about why he wouldn't allow it.  Late nights of him jerking away as soon as my feet touched his, like I was infected with some type of plague. And late nights of me chattering my way to sleep, freezing cold, while he slept in warmth and comfort only a few inches away.  I grew to resent him and his warmth.  And the ice that had once found its way on my feet, had grown around my heart.  That's when I found her.  The Sunbeam 2000.  I had been wandering the isles of Kmart, hoping to find something to help solve this marital issue, when I picked up the package and looked at it closely.  Sure, I'd heard of electric blankets.  But a heated mattress pad that had dual controls, auto shut-off, a snug fit, was washable and provided heat that was ready to go in minutes? My prayers had been answered.

I plunked down the cash, screeched out of the parking lot and sped home. Within an hour of my purchase, hope had been restored to our marriage. However, when I first crawled into bed to test it, I found myself angry.  Angry that no one had told me about this miracle mattress pad before.  Upset that I had gone 10 years of marriage and more than a quarter of a century of life on this earth without one. Then, as I lay there trying to figure out who I could write and complain to about this ill kept secret, the warmth came and I wasn't angry anymore. I no longer resented Ryan for his ignorance of my cold feet and I started finding reasons to not only get in bed, but stay there most of the day.  It didn't matter if it was 11:30 at night or 11:30 in the morning.  In the weeks following my purchase, I found myself snuggled under the covers whispering sweet nothings to the Sunbeam 2000 which, by that point was running on fumes after being used for 360 hours straight. I invited others to join me "under the covers." The kids, Mudd, and yes, Ryan was allowed back in as well. I wanted everyone to experience this new found happiness. 
I told friends, neighbors and anyone who would
listen about the marriage saving mattress pad and I think I may have even saved the marriage of a close friend, who was suffering as we were from the cold feet shake down. It's been two years since I last went to bed with cold feet and a cold heart.  Now, when the temperature drops to single digits, the only late night argument we have is when I "forget" to turn on Ryan's side of the heat, making mine nice and toasty and his side cold.  
I'm considering it payback.