7.18.2007

Back to Middle Ground

I thought I had finally reclaimed the center of my bed.

Most of my adult life was spent very selfishly sprawled across the entire bed. I have had a queen-sized mattress since I moved out on my own, and have relished every single inch of it.

Some time ago, I wrote a rather scathing diatribe about how I do not share my space very well. It can best be summed up in these few sentences: And I want you to leave soon after we're done. I don't cuddle. I sleep diagonally across my bed, so there's no room for you.

For the longest time, I didn’t sleep well if there was someone else in the bed. Probably because I felt encroached upon, like my sanctuary was invaded. No matter how much I liked the boy, he got kicked out as soon as he served his purpose. Cuddling? No thank you.

Then someone came along and actually broke me of that bad habit. The first night he spent with me was not one fractured by an inability to relax into dreamscapes. I actually slept—and well! There was something comfortably special about him, if not only because I allowed him to stay, but his presence there all night didn’t rob me of sleep.

He's been gone for quite some time, but for some reason I'd managed to leave his part of the bed untouched. Until just recently.

It took a long time, but I finally got that bad habit out of my system. For the first time in over a year, I parked myself smack in the middle of my bed and stayed there until morning.

And I slept very well. Didn’t
fall out of bed or nothin’!

Except now someone new is vying for that space. I've managed to give up half the bed when he's there, but I still prefer sleeping diagonally. So the question is: how long before I give that up for good?

5 comments:

LB said...

I sleep diagonally as well....and the new guy has a really big bed so it doesn't bother him! I thought it was wierd when I first shared a bed with him that he didn't cuddle with me until I fell asleep- like the old dude. But now, I like that we don't crowd eachother. We sleep in our own space and in the morning he can grab me and pull me over to his side to cuddle...but while we are dreaming- it's like we have our own beds! It's awesome!!

Jeen Yes said...

i always wanted to tell one of my conquests to sleep on the floor or on the couch. never got around to it. now i fight the pooch for bed space. it's an ongoing battle. i feel your pain.

SkookumJoe said...

cut the legs off one end of the bed, then you'll both be sleeping diagonally

DrinkJack said...

That skookumjoe is one funny dude. He thinks a little horizontally :)

Anonymous said...

A bigger bed will solve it all.