Bedfellows

[cosmolinguist]

The single bed, twin-size bed, whatever you want to call it, made sense. I am only a single person, after all. And the room I grew up in is too small for anything else.

But then I got a new room and my parents bought me a new bed too. They wanted queen—saying my room would be the guest room, as if we have guests—but a mere full-size was billed. Maybe they just decided not to bother, or maybe they actually listened to me when I said I'd rather have the smaller one because it was certainly big enough for me.

Then I went off to college and slept in a twin bed again. Then I started sharing it with a boy every now and then. That made my bed at home seem even bigger and weirder. I'd wake up, still on one side (I never liked the feeling of trying to sleep in the middle) but with one outstretched arm, reaching for something that wasn't there.

And then this last time I was gone they finally got their stupid queen-size after all; I came back to edges of sheets visible under the old duvet, which almost looks as if it fits and belongs there. I can't really get between my desk and my bookcase any more, but that's not the kind of problem that would impress my mom, so I flop on my belly when I want to look at my books. And if my stereo didn't come with a remote I might never get around to turning it on, because it's on top of the inaccessible bookcase. As it is, when I can't find the remote control, I just step up onto the bed (always trying to look nonchalant even though there's never going to be anyone watching and even though I'm too short to do anything more nonchalant than lunge) and walk across it in small bouncing steps. I did this once recently to turn on the radaio and when I heard "Radio Free Europe" I bent my knees a little, not quite jumping on my bed but having an unreasonably good time.

This bed makes me feel tiny. Either I am absurd or it is. The half I don't sleep on never seems to lose its layer of detritus unless my mom cleans my room (which happens more often than can be considered healthy). With the twin beds I had to rake off the accumulated stuff of the day when it was time to go to bed. But, I realize, with an enormous bed the stuff can just be pushed to the side! I didn't decide this consciously, I just noticed it's what's going on when I first noticed that my bed has ... well, here's the current list: my cell phone, my minidisc player, a few pens, a stack of Post-Its, my camera, a Carl Sagan book lying open, a book of poems, the instruction maual for something, the remotes for my TV, DVD player and stereo... Oh yeah, and me.

CDs and random bits of paper aren't cuddly and have no limbs to get entangled with mine during the night, but I still can't really say I'm sleeping alone here.

Comments

[strangeidea.livejournal.com]

Meh! You must be a smaller person than us... when Amanda and I finally managed to buy a queen-sized bed last fall we threw a party to celebrate. But then, we are broad-shouldered persons, and I do utilize significant portions of the bed in my sleep.

[cosmolinguist]

Well, I am little. (Andrew calls me "tiny" almost as much as he calls me "American" ... and with that same more-to-be-pitied-than-despised voice.) And I don't move very much at all in my sleep. My brother has always had a full-size bed and as a kid he'd always be rolling out of it. My parents got those railing things for the sides and then he'd fall out of bed on the end. He certainly seemed dedicated to that. I never fell out of bed.

A couple summers ago I ended up sharing a bed with a friend of mine. We were staying at another friend, Sarah's, house and Allison had been sleeping next to her on several previous nights. It was summer and thus Allison was driven crazy by the way Sarah would always end up snuggled up next to her, because it was summer and we were already hot. The next morning she said she'd liked sleeping next to me: "You didn't move! Not at all, I don't think!" I thought it was a funny way to impress someone. Maybe "good at sleeping next to people" is something I can add to my résumé.

[strangeidea.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm... I think that would depend on what sort of job you were applying for. Unless you were planning on sleeping your way to the top or something.

[ladyortyger.livejournal.com]

I shared a twin in college lots. But both of us are very small people.

With the twin beds I had to rake off the accumulated stuff of the day when it was time to go to bed

Yup. I do that.

*looks at bed* purse, pile of clean laundry, pile of clothes worn once or twice, three pillows, giant moose plushie, small moose plushie, bunny plushie, firefox plushie, fish plushie, cd player, headphones, two towels, blankets, pair of slippers, cd case.

usually I sleep on there, fetal style, with all the plushies and the piles of clothes. All of it usually stays on the bed. Me is small. :)

[cosmolinguist]

Firefox plushie?

[ladyortyger.livejournal.com]

firefox plushie! (http://www.livejournal.com/users/chiisaihito/217192.html)

[cosmolinguist]

That's great.

Sam's bed

[roguepuppet.livejournal.com]

Well, now I do not feel like my younger daughter is quit so odd in her sleeping habits. About once a week ( when I force the changing of the sheets) her bed gets cleaned off, but other than that, she hs a large accumulation of an odd assortment of Shtuff that she sleeps with.
When we had temporarily moved out of the house, I bought a set of bunk beds for both girls ( they shared a room at the time). It is one of those sets where the top if twin sized and the bottom is full sized..
When we settled back after the divorce, she inherited the whole bunk bex set for her room. It is one with a black metal tube frame, which makes is very easy for her to string and tie things to the frame as well. She currently sleeps on the bottom bunk in what I call "the cave".
She has managed to hang a large multi-leveled dreamcatcher at the head of the bed ( she swears it really works and refuses to remove it, even though the cats come during the day and use it as a kitty gymnasium..
One side is against the wall. I am beginning to think that that is a mistake, as it just allows her to pile things very high on that side of the bed and they do not fall out.... I am definitely aiming for a room-re-arrange during spring break.
One the bunk she sleeps on, you can currently find a plethora of stuffed animals ( including a four foot long stuffed bass, a giant sponge bob and a giant patrick) 4 pillows ( she took the ones off the top bunk when she had friends sleep over ( they all crawled in the bottom bunk together) and they never got returned. A Bop-it game, her journal, two books, ( i cleaned out the bowl and cup I found in there.so I will not count that, but that is a frequent find..) an old purse that she does not use as a purse anymore, but is filled with miscellaneous doo-dads, several pens and pencils, Her toy with all the nails in that you can put objects aginast to make changeable "sculpture", a dog leash ( ?!),a shoe, a dirtys hirt, some socks, the clean stack of laundry i last asked her to put away in her drawers... OK at this point, I had to stop looking... sorry.
This is not an uncommon thing. No matter how much I tell her not to pile things in bed, or at least not hard things she is going to roll over and hurt herself on..
She is a pack rat and sleeps well surrounded by her current favorite possessions....I always thought it was just her-- but apparently there are other normal humans who nest like this as well....

Re: Sam's bed

[cosmolinguist]

Heh. I so would've been like that, if my mom allowed it. Instead, I grew up in a house that looks like a museum, and while she's slackened off a little bit now, I'll never have a bed like that. Not here, anyway. :-)

Re: Sam's bed

[roguepuppet.livejournal.com]

I try to keep a middle ground.
Now it is true that I am as we speak in the middle of tearing up Sam's room, re-arranging furniture and doing some organizing. But I do not kid myself. I need to go get her another set of bookshelves and a small table of some sort-- but it will not stay neat and organized for very long. Having more space to put things will keep her from piling things all over the floor and across the top of her desk ( so maybe she can actually use her desk...) But her bed will be back to the normal Sam nest in no time flat. I figure if it really comforts her and she is sleeping better- it is not the end of the world. I do insist on the weekly throwing out of the scraps of paper and enpty candy bar wrappers and cups and.... that are not healthy and would accumulate forever if I let her. When she was small, she did not even want to throw out her empty french fry paper holder... she was sure she wou;d be able to use it for something, some time.... sigh.. I never knew pack rat was a genetic trait but apparently, it is....
I keep a clean house, but by no means museum quality.. just not enough hours in the day and I have given myself permission to play and read and have a life... probably one of the reasons some of the midwest mamas around here look askance... I figure I am in about the middle of the pack- I know people with significantly messier and significantly neater homes...

[parakleta.livejournal.com]

Being able to pile one half of the bed with random stuff is one of the coolest things about having a big bed all to yourself. Having a warm body in the other half has its advantages too.