Bed Bath and Bemused

It's true. This is the first time I've had a real bed in nine years. I don't really know what happened. In college I had my own bedroom, a dishwasher and a washer and dryer. Then it seemed that the older I got, the more I lost. These niceties were stripped away from me one-by-one. I actually like hand-washing dishes, so that was never a problem. Of course, laundry certainly was a pain in the ass. But I never knew what I was missing with a bed until recently.

Oh, it wasn't like I never slept on beds. For five of the past nine years I had a boyfriend. Which meant my apartment became a really large walk-in closet and their apartment became my favorite hotel. For those years when I was sleeplessly single, I had my trusty pull-out couch. This was no ordinary sofa bed, mind you. It had an inflatable mattress. In 45 seconds, I could have that thing pulled out, pumped up and ready for rest. It was fine when I was all alone. Not so romantic for overnight guests.

But now I've truly grown up from studio to one bedroom - a feat anyone in their 30s should be really proud of. And in doing so, I've reclaimed the beauty of beds. There is something so secretly alluring about having your own little chamber to retire to. My favorite thing this winter became jumping on my bed, curling up in all the pillows and settling into a good book. And since I hadn't done this my entire adult life, all of these childhood memories came back to me. I began re-reading a couple of the more epic Stephen King novels I read when I was twelve. Then I started watching old kid movies on my laptop. Huddled up with my computer just seemed a more intimate setting for nostalgia than sitting on my couch with the TV across the room. My favorite one to re-watch was The Never Ending Story. I didn't empathize with Bastian. I was Bastian.


I realized that having your own bed allows you to go on any adventure you want. It's like having your very own flying white dragon to whisk you off into other worlds. After all, beds are the keepers of love, dreams...and stories.