I gave away my last couch when I moved out of Crown Heights. She was a good couch, one that had lived an exciting life, as far as furniture excitement goes. Her life started in Oklahoma, then she moved down to Houston, as did the rest of the Allen household. She used to be the primary couch, the TV couch, but lost that prime position to a nicer leather number. She became of of the two secondary couches that hung out first comfortably in the massive annex/computer room in Oklahoma, and later in Houston, less comfortably in the upstairs living room.

Thanks to couch overcrowding at my parent's place, the couch eventually followed me up to college in Denton--that's Dallas area for those of you not from Texas--where it regained the throne of head TV couch, taking the place of my brother's truly broken down, character-filled all-foam sofa bed. We got a dog, Keiko, and she liked the couch very much. She looked very cute on the couch, it must be said. However, she was probably the main reason that the couch started to look a little worse for the wear.

But that didn't stop the couch from making the trip to New York, where it lived for the next five years. Two years of it which it was slept on nightly by one of our third household members, one year was Peter, Eric's brother, another year was Andrew, our mutual friend. Both looked very cute on the couch, it must be said. However, they are probably the other reason that the couch started to look a little worse for the wear.

At the end, I decided that I could revive my couch by threading it up with new string. Many a Sunday was spent watching football and knitting the couch back into shape. It did help, but I just wasn't dedicated enough to fix all the worn-through spots. Who knew that knitting what such a pain in the ass? When it was time to move out of the old place, I found someone in need, someone crafty enough to finish the restoration, and I was no longer a couch owner.

(In Sydney, I was a couch renter.)

Coming back to Brooklyn to live in an unfurnished house meant that I had to finally face up to the fact that pillows and blankets a couch does not make. After far too much deliberation and delay, Christy and I have purchased a great new couch. It should be delivered right around Christmas time. And man am I excited. Who knows what life this couch has ahead of it. I can't wait to sit on it.