Beds

[Teresa]

A former lover insisted that couples should alternate sides of the bed to keep things "fresh and fair", so every few months we traded sides.

 

Even as a child I loved the right (lying down) side of the bed and considered the left an awkward garment one size too small.  When I met my husband I learned he also favored the right side, but he refused to give up his/our side, to even take turns.  I conceded and took the left, the less as I saw it, and withstood the brain peel of his snoring, the solo mountain climb to reach crying children in the night, losing years of sleep in the pointless pursuit of shared unconsciousness.  I felt guilty for wanting to sleep elsewhere, as though I might betray some sacred rule of marriage and life, as though exiting the marriage bed, even for sleep, was exiting the marriage itself; I got over it.

 

Now I sleep in a peaceful queen bed upstairs but still, out of deep acquired habit, on the left.

 

 

 

[Bill Floyd]

I'm a light sleeper and very sensitive to snoring.  I went on a trip a few years ago with some friends & was kept awake all night & then went truly and regrettably psycho on them in the morning.  Luckily, everyone got over it, and now when I travel with that crew we know how to split rooms so I can sleep.  If my wife ever starts snoring, I will be moving to the guest room.  

 

Isn't it kind of cool that people even have quirks about the way we sleep?   

[Angela]

@ Teresa - Dang, girl.

[Robert Crisman]

For years I couldn't sleep if there was anyone else in the room. And snoring is grounds for 1) murder 2) divorce, whichever comes first, and divorce sometimes takes too long...

[Kristine_ES]

Gita...I wonder if people instinctively do, anyway? A lot of homes are built north-south, I believe? 

*backs out of room and lets Teresa get her sleep because when momma is unslept, EVERYBODY is unslept...* wuuuhooo! ;)

[Gita]

Sometimes I like to reverse and sleep with my head at the foot of the bed. It changes my sleep pattern, though I don't know why.

And while we are on the topic, someone once told me that people should sleep north-south directionally. I think it had something to do with magnetism, but that sounds like junk science to me. Ever heard that?

[Teresa]

Well you see, I have very sensitive ears.  I can hear an ant fart, a conversation ten houses away, a dog barking before he barks.  I need my sleep and not just because I feel tired or weak if I don't get it but because I am a wretched bitch and psychopath if I don't get it.  Also, I spent two years pregnant and not sleeping in my forties, then two years breastfeeding and not sleeping (midnight, 2:00 am, 5:00 am) in my forties and shared our bedroom with a wrestless rottweiler who snored in harmony with his master beside me.  No more.  I also like light bedding and my husband likes to be buried like a corpse under a 100 pound comforter.  I am usually sleepy before he is, too, so I have somewhere to go where I won't be disturbed when he goes to bed. 

 

My husband doesn't snore every night but he snores at least six days a week.  Sometimes it's really bad but even when it's mild, again, I can hear an ant fart.  Snoring wakes me many times during the night, makes me want to kill him in his sleep and it is sad, in a way I've forgotten, that I sleep elsewhere but it's much sadder when I'm the wretched bitch and psychopath, when I have dark circles and a freakish eye twitch.  It hurt his feelings at first but he knows he snores and he knows he likes me better when I sleep and he knows I might've thought of ear plugs if he'd just given me the RIGHT side of the bed.  The End...;-) 

[Kristine_ES]

@ bolton: BED HOGS, UNITE!  (mike gets out of bed in the morning so go diagonal and hog the whole thing and he grumbles and... well.. i think it's funny anyway... ) 

[bolton carley]

love that you thought to bring this topic up! 

my husband always jokes that he sleeps on his 1/8th of the bed on his side because the rest is mine.  of course, i keep pointing out that would explain why there's a huge hill in the middle of the bed which is no-man's land or as we call it the gaza strip.

 

but your tag made this even more interesting.

[Angela]

I find the middle to be most comforting, and tend to make a little nest there, with pillows.  However, I have not gotten over it.  I think sleeping alone is terribly sad, especially when there is another beating heart not so very far away.  This is pathetic to confess, but since (probably) none of you live in my hometown, I will not have to make polite conversation with you on the sidewalk, knowing you know.  Sometimes my dog holds down the foot of the bed with his fat little snoring body, so that my mattress and I do not drift out the window.

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

I have always wondered how many happily married couples (like me and my husband) sleep apart often.  I guess that's not something one discusses.  I wouldn't want anyone to think there was a problem between us and start all sorts of rumors.

 

Things that get in the way: snoring, getting up 4 times a night to go to the bathroom, phone ringing when he's on-call, and restless leg syndrome.

 

When together, I like the side closest to the door and he likes the side nearest the bathroom.  Not always the same, if you are at a hotel or a guess in someone's house.