Back one day on a long road trip, I sat in the driver’s seat, Ty sat shotgun, and Chris sat in the back. We were trucking down a long stretch of highway in silence, just watching the world go by, when out of nowhere Ty suddenly turned to me and said: “Hey, how long have you had your pillow?”
You kind of roll with the random questions on road trips, because if you don’t then you get mighty sick of I Spy and the four mix CDs you brought along pretty quick. So I thought about it for a moment, then said earnestly, “You know, I can’t remember ever not having my pillow. I think I’ve had it for like twenty years or something. It’s completely old, worn-out, flat, and stained, but I’ve had it forever and I can’t find another good, flat pillow like this so I’ll probably keep it until it disintegrates, or I until I lose it or something.”
I thought nothing of it, continuing to stare straight ahead and fiddle with the radio, but Ty stared back at me completely horrified. His jaw dropped, his brain boggled, and he was silent for a minute. “You know,” he said eventually, his eyebrows furrowed in real concern and his head bobbing in little nods, as if convincing himself that despite the severity of the news he was about to deliver, it was important to just get it out, “you’re not supposed to keep any pillow for longer than a year. It’s actually really, really bad for you.”
“Whatever,” I countered, eventually settling on a radio station and continuing to stare out the windshield. “It’s just a pillow.”
“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Ty counter-countered, “It’s not just a pillow at that point. It’s a really dense collection of years of dandruff, dead skin, dust mites, and drool. Seriously, it’s less ‘pillow’ and more ‘your disgusting head’ at that point. It’s full of years of bacteria. Bacteria that’s had a chance to grow and build cities! I swear, I saw it on a website and in the news.”
There was a pause, before I eventually dismissed Ty’s claim with finality. “Pshhhhhh,” I concluded, putting on my sunglasses and turning up the volume on the radio.
Defeated, Ty let it go, preferring to let me suffer the nightmarish consequences of sleeping on my pillow rather than waste any more effort trying to convince me that I needed an upgrade. So we drove on in silence, watching the world go by on that long stretch of highway.
I let it drift away then, let it disappear, but really — the truth is that I just didn’t want to think about it.
No, I didn’t want to contemplate the possibility that I might need to replace my pillow. Because there’s really nothing quite like the comfort provided by your pillow, is there? I’m talking about the one you sleep on every night. The one that has bent and shaped itself around your head, has been fluffed and squished and packed and thrown. It’s a bit yellow, there’s some hair on it, but it just… knows you. It loves you. And it’s been with you for eight hours a day since you can remember.
Yeah, I once heard a stand-up comic describe his pillow as looking like a bandage from the civil war. And mine’s probably at that level, too. I even think of it like a bandage, cradling and caressing my worn-weary head, providing a gentle escape from reality every night from dusk till dawn.
I mean, that’s why I can never really get a good night’s sleep anywhere else unless I take my pillow along. I admit it looks a bit funny walking in the door with a pillow under my arm, but oh well. See, what if I sleep over at your place and you toss me one those flimsy, sack-pillows that feel like they’re stuffed with fifty ripped-up handfuls of industrial-grade Styrofoam? And I’m not taking any chances with the hotel’s puffy, unsupportive cloud-pillows either, or those wacked-out, ergonomic jobs that make your head feel like it’s propped up on a wheelchair ramp.
No, it’s all about your pillow, yours, your pillow. I mean, have you ever tried to switch pillows with someone else one night? It cannot work.
Your pillow’s been there through the highs, the lows, the nightmares, and the tears. You’ve been through a lot together and you know each other so well. So next time you’re planning to crash somewhere? Take your pillow. In exchange for a little less packing space, you’ll get a lot more hours of goodnight comfort and moonlit, subconscious bliss.
And hey, if you don’t believe me?
Sleep on it.
AWESOME!
Thank you to everyone who entered last week’s contest!
Congratulations to our randomly selected winners Syd, Leanne Tuck, Michelle WL Ong, wendy, and Cherise! They will each receive a free copy of Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin!
Ewww, dust mites are so creepy close up! … And yet I have absolutely no intention on throwing away my “perfectly good” pillow. :P
Congrats everyone on winning the book! I’m so jealous. I’m just going to have to go get one now. I’m very interested in it.
I loooooooove my pillow. If I go somewhere else, like on vacation, my pillow comes with me. I have one of those memory foam pillows and if I sleep on a regular one now, my neck gets stiff and sore.
I just love this one and will defend my pillow to the endths.
Mine was made esp. for me by a very dear friend in 1985. It’s a country mouse holding a bouquet of my fav flowers- daisies. She’s been wounded and stitched, maybe as many times as me. My neck fits so perfectly on her; is a mess without her, NOTHING else will do! So everywhere I go, space is a given… for my PILLOW, dadodadedadadodoo…”
http://youtu.be/U1n9QTkrkP0
OH how I adore the pic of the baby!
Thank you SO MUCH for the contest; for the book! I can’t wait to share it with my daughter’s! :)
Happiness is winning a prize and when you least expect it, it arrives in the mail!
Congrats, Wendy! Enjoy!
I love that pic too. I keep looking at it, thinking of Zach, but he wouldn’t be wearing pajamas…just a diaper and maybe a t-shirt. He hates wearing clothes to bed!
And a big congrats on winning!!
Up until 8 years ago I had always been a stomach sleeper and had the flat flat flat pillow from my childhood. When I got pregnant with my first baby I had to completely change the way I slept. It took a long time to find the perfect pillow. Even after having the baby I couldn’t sleep on my stomach. When I got pregnant the second time I started a weird thing where I had to have a “snuggle” pillow as well. This is probably my karma coming back around because I always made fun of my mom for having one. Now my older daughter is starting to ask me questions about it. I know it’s only a matter of time before the teasing will begin from her :).
Sara, I sleep with 3 pillows! One between/under my knees, one to snuggle or, when necessary, use as a blockade against the cool blasts from the fan my boyfriend insists on blowing in our sleeping faces because he thinks the central AC just isn’t cold enough (what the???!!!), and one, obviously, under my head. My boyfriend uses 3, too…our bed is polluted with pillows!
Seriously, the snuggle one is mainly to maintain my sleeping posture: I lean on it and it helps prevent me tipping over from my side onto my stomach, which will really leave my back and hip sore in the morning. So you can tell your family and friends, your snuggle pillow is your posture pillow!
Three pillows = triple awsomeness! There have been a few times when I’ve thought a between-the-knees pillow would be comfortable, but I’ve always shut down that thought because it seemed just too much. I just might go for it!
Yeah, go for it, Sara! You only live once! Pillow perfection!
My pillow looks exactly like that, “bandage from the civil war.” Yuck! Yes, I think it looks yuck, but I’m still using the darn thing! Problem is, I’m so used to my flat pillow that the thought of starting over with a puffy one and having to slog my way through countless nights ’til it reaches perfect flatness is too daunting. Those beautiful, satiny, expensive, puffy new pillows just leave me with neckache! Can’t a company make a pre-flattened pillow?! Is that too much to ask?! Then I’d have a clean, non-yellow-browned pillow of perfect flatness. :D
Ah, friendly wee pillow. He is a loyal and trusting friend. I never actually thought about this before, but I just realized that I really like my pillow. It is mine. It’s always nice when I finally come home from a long trip or something and can finally sleep in me own bed.
Oh! And congratulations to you contest winners.
I’ve seen on TV that comedian who said his pillow looks like a bandage from the civil war. I forget his name though.
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