The traditional 25th wedding anniversary gift may be silver — but this husband had a better idea.

Emily Krolak of Minnesota, and her husband Joe, just celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary. With two teens, 16 and 14, who play basketball, football, and golf, and a black lab named Goose, they are the typical super active family.

The couple began dating when Emily was 15 years old — they are high school sweethearts. There were even four or five years of long-distance dating through college.

Their relationship is still going strong, so when their 25th anniversary was around the corner, Emily braced herself for some kind of surprise. By nature, Joe loves surprises much more than she does, Emily explained. He threw a huge surprise party for her 40^th birthday, for example.

“He loves not telling the kids what he's going to do. He loves not telling me what he's going to do," she said.

Just Another Anniversary? Yeah, right

So, when they went out to dinner alone the night of their anniversary, which never happens, Emily thought Joe making the reservation was the surprise. She also told friends that he'd surprised her that morning with 25 roses.

In return, Emily got Joe a card and a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups—because he loves that candy. And whenever anyone asked what they were doing for their anniversary, Emily said, “Oh, nothing much. We don't need to do anything big, it's just another day."

Dinner was lovely and Emily was secretly relieved there was no big production or weird, crazy surprises. They went home, went to bed, and the next day she thought to herself, whew, anniversary over, no pressure, we got through it.

But Joe still had a surprise left.

The next morning, Emily was working in her home office when Joe popped in. “What are you doing in here?" She asked him. Oh, just relaxing, he told her. Then he looked out the window and said, “I wonder what that Sleep Number truck is doing out there?"

Emily thought it was some mistake. They got the wrong house, maybe — there had been lots of mishaps with different orders and furniture lately from other companies.

Then a smile spread across Joe's face. Finally, something clicked, and Emily said, “Oh My Gosh, did you get a Sleep Number bed?"

The Krolaks have a split-king Sleep Number^® bed in their lake cabin up north, and every time they go there, Emily raves about how great the bed is. In fact, Emily and Joe are quite the Sleep Number^® loyalists. Up until then, they were sleeping on an older Sleep Number^® bed at home, their kids each have Sleep Number^® beds also, and every guest room in their cabin is outfitted with one.

But Joe had ordered a brand new—all-the-bells-and-whistles Sleep Number 360^® smart bed, along with new bedding, and a the DualTemp™ layer to help them sleep up to 35% cooler or warmer*. Joe tried to get the delivery date on their anniversary, but it worked out to be the day after.

“The fact that it came the next day, really, really hit me out of the blue," said Emily.

Getting The Best Sleep Possible

The new smart bed helps them get more quality sleep, Emily explained.

“I'm typically cold and he's typically hot," Emily said — so the dual temperature controls on the DualTemp™ layer make a big difference while sleeping.

Emily sets her timer to warm up for an hour before bed. Their biggest problem is that Goose (their dog) doesn't really like the foot of the bed moving once she is settled in, so Emily tries to get her feet situated before the dog comes to bed. They also have the head raising feature on their new bed.

“I looked at my SleepIQ score last night. It took me four minutes to fall asleep," Emily said. “My best sleep score is 86."

Emily says she understands how important sleep is and how horrible you feel if you don't sleep well. She wants to be as well-rested as she can for her sales job, to work out, and to be a less edgy or cranky mom to teenagers.

Emily and Joe were first introduced to Sleep Number beds when Emily was pregnant with their first child. Knowing she'd want to sleep the best she could throughout her pregnancy and after the baby arrived, they bought their first Sleep Number bed more than 16 years ago.

The Krolak family has been sleeping in Sleep Number^® beds ever since. Emily says everyone loves staying at their home or cabin because the beds are wonderful. She doesn't want anybody to ever complain about not having a comfortable bed, so she takes that seriously. She also says the beds last forever and are a great investment.

She's even been preplanning for when her kids fly the coop.

"One day, we'll have their beds as guest beds, too," she quipped.

For now, she's thrilled with her newest Sleep Number 360^® smart bed, and despite not loving crazy surprises, said Joe did great with this one.

Like diet and exercise, quality sleep has a profound impact on our physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. Because no two people sleep the same, Sleep Number 360^® smart beds, with SleepIQ^® technology, sense your movements and automatically adjust firmness, comfort and support to keep you both sleeping comfortably and provide proven quality sleep. Find your Sleep Number^® setting for your best possible night's sleep, and if you own a Sleep Number^® bed, log in to your InnerCircle℠ Rewards account to see your exclusive offers, refer friends and more.

*As compared to sleeping without the DualTemp™ layer. Results from a 2020 Sleep Number test in a simulated sleep environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jennifer Nelson is a Florida-based health writer who writes about all things sleep hygiene. She writes for The National Sleep Foundation, Phillips, Tom's Guide, Southern Living, Health, AARP, and others.

Sarah Panus is the Sleep Number blog Editor-in-Chief.