I love being married to my husband. I adore waking up next to him every morning. I actually don’t usually “wake up next to him” because he gets up two hours before I do, but you get the idea. He has a calming and comforting presence that no one else can offer. This morning, however, I was reminded of someone else that shares our bed, of whom I am not so fond.
When we first got married we had a queen size bed. I thought this would be more than adequate. My parents had shared a full size bed for a very long time. They were pleasantly surprised at all the extra room the new queen size bed offered. They actually wondered why they had waited so long to upgrade. I was apalled when I learned that this bed was nowhere near large enough for all the persons that would occupy it.
I will call her Mildred. She is a king size, over-stuffed pillow that trys to smother me when she gets the opportunity. This holding pillow has been such a problem we had to buy a king size bed to accomodate her. See, I would roll over to warm my feet or just cuddle and there she was. The holding pillow. I would get hot in the middle of the night because she would be so close to me.
This morning I was reminded of my old foe. Our middle son ended up in our bed, so I was blissfully sleeping between Ric and number two. Imagine my terror when I was awakened by Mildred resting on my face.
“Don’t try to kill me!!!” I exclaimed.
“I’m not”, chuckle chuckle, as he rolled to his other side with Mildred in his arms.
In that second, I felt all the same emotions from our pre-king size bed days. The cramped sleeping situation that was our life had returned, if only for an hour or two. Don’t be mistaken, Mildred has always been present, even in the king size bed. She just has stayed on her side, offering a cuddle partner to my husband. I’m not jealous. I am way to floppy when I sleep to be an effective cuddler. I just don’t want to worry about pillow therapy every time I close my eyes.
I completely understand that many people sleep holding a pillow. I just wonder about the necessity of an extra large one. Maybe a little throw pillow or even a standard size. I gave up this fight five years ago because it really wasn’t an issue any more. I have my side, he and Mildred have theirs. It’s fine. It works. I will just remember that next time one of our offspring end up in our bed, I will not be sleeping in the middle.