Tales of a Mattress

I've been spending a lot of time in bed recently.

I will guess that that bit of knowledge leads you to one of two conclusions: that I've been sick, or that I've been gettin' doooown.

Actually, my increased periods of bed-time are due to a heated mattress pad I picked up on sale at Filene's last month. It was an impulse buy, one I regretted walking home from the store with it. It sat in the box unopened for days before I finally put it on. But that's when everything changed. Comfort is a thing rarely demanded, but once experienced, is impossible to live without. I have found that in the middle of a Massachusetts winter, there's nothing quite like slipping into a heated bed.

The mattress pad has increased my reading levels. Where I used to lounge on the computer or in front of the television before bed, I know go eagerly to read in the warmth, an hour or 90 minutes before I plan to sleep. I haven't read this much since high school, and I owe it all to the pad.

It ocurred to me while thinking about this post, that a bed is a funny thing to share. Sleep is not only utilitarian, it's a finicky thing too. People struggle with it, get pissed off about it, medicate themselves into it -- so much can hinder it, including the presence of another person or, dare I say it, pets. Yet we wouldn't have it any other way.

Because the sleeping is more than just the sleeping. It's more about nesting. So much revolves around the bed. If, in the middle of an argument, I or my significant other goes and lays on the bed, that's a signal that the fight is over and that it's time for discussion. Bed is a place to go when I'm sad. It's the place I cross my arms behind my head and stare up at the ceiling and dream and scheme. It's a place to nurse a headache or the flu; a place to make love; a place to journal life in little notebooks.

For young adults fresh out of college, the whole idea of home revolves around the bed. In the dorm, the bed is everything. It's a place for homework, a place to watch movies with friends. It's a kitchen table and a workbench. The bed is your couch and your welcome mat. If I'd had this heated mattress pad in college, I would've been the most popular kid in the dorm.