October 7, 2004
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Antiseptic to Accustomed
The desired illusion of a business-class hotel room being to have the traveler believe him/herself to be the sole occupant of a pristine and antiseptic hideaway untouched by other's hands and magically cleaned, in their absence, of any soil they might themselves impose on it -- the room I've occupied for the last four days wins my Lifetime Award hands down.
It's not so much that the hotel management decided to provide all-white linen (with the exception of a bizarre and useless strip of green-and-gold cloth laid at the foot of the snowy bed), but that they have also laid on no less than six large pillows per bed. SIX. Any more, and they would have occluded the beds altogether. I'm not at all sure what you're supposed to do with all these pillows if both beds are actually occupied. Certainly you couldn't sleep with them; there'd be no room for you. This many pillows, and to some degree they become a little worrisome(quick -- glancing around -- are all twelve of you okay? Everyone in their places? No stains yet? Whew......we're okay, then).
So, with my nights companioned by a deluge of bridal-clad pillowing, my days by the hum and bustle of high-rise business, and my evenings by that surreal orange glow of the neon-lit asphalt, I'm more than ready to get back to my natal rolling hills, where days are slow and one-story, evenings grassy and cricket-filled, and nights companioned by my soundly sleeping daughters and an absolute, blissful dearth of pillows.
When you come home, what's your "accustomed"?
Comments (20)
Six? Yowza.
When I come home ... Wait, I never go away!
One word for ya: squalor.
I sleep with 6 pillows on my bed
Yeah, I have 5 or 6 too. And always on a quest for the perfect one. Never enough pillows......I must have been a princess in a previous life. My sheets have to be 100% cotton, the softer the better. But I do buy them on sale. As for the rest of the house, chaos.
"(quick -- glancing around -- are all twelve of you okay? Everyone in their places? No stains yet? Whew......we're okay, then)."
You can be so funny.
Let's see...it's kind of a frequence occurence...
I suppose first would be the squalor mentioned by Primeva (I keep hoping it will dissipate in my absence, but alas, I return and it remains...) but after that I suppose it is my sofa: we have his and hers...mine's soft and squishy ivory cotton and imported from Tupelo, Mississippi...his is hard and deep brown Ultrasuede from Milan. These sofas speak volumes about us.... They dominate the living room and I curl up on mine for days after we return, sorting mail, reading catalogs, (and all the English language magazines and books I have inevitably lugged back) drinking tea and generally trying to regain the balance that I lose with each assault on my bodyclock.
Oh, and what OpheliaBedelia said.
The image that I always carry in my mind for when I pull in the drive upon returning from a trip is my dog, Molly, standing at the top of the hill, looking in the opposite of my direction (must act as though totally unimpressed with my return), and then racing across the yard, barking wildly as she chases imaginary demons out of the yard - this, obviously to impress me!
Sitting quietly in my chair lost in a MASH rerun, trodding up the hill in the dark to feed the horse and put her up for the night, and stopping at the sweet gum tree to take a pee before going back inside the house (this activity is frowned upon in most of my business travels)
When I read down to "all twelve of you" and "stains" I was sure that you were alluding to an orgy, or something - silly me.
For our honeymoon this past summer, our only requirement was NO hotel rooms - they feel too much like business trips to both of us.
Accustomed? After an absence, I move from room to room, picking up this and sorting that, returning things to their places, and just really being in my space.
The little tumbleweed fluffs of dog hair that drift away from your feet when you walk. The smudged glass of the window panes from finger and nose prints. The cups of curdled milk and juice turned to wine found in unexpected places. The sound of 3 computers running. The sight of clusterflies and japanese beetles lying on their backs on the window sills (tanning?) Yes, my floors are clean enough to eat off of too--the dogs do it all the time. Ahhhh...there's no place like home...
I am truly in awe! I am lucky if I manage to lay claim to my only pillow since hubby seems to be more attracted to mine than his!
When ever I return home, I can't wait to toss the shoes. I'm never comfortable enough to go barefoot anywhere else except home so that is the first. Then I sink into my old custom worn lounge chair where I am surrounded by several started and half finished time passers.
There's no place like home...There's no place like home...
there are a total of... 8 pillows on our bed, and only three of those spend each night on the floor.
I love pillows!
When I have been away, I can't wait to get back to my bed - I hate sleeping where unknown others have slept ..........
Thank you, my dear friend.
(I think we have six pillows, but that's way too much. Two would suffice.)
Some shipmates are nothing less than astounding. Not enough and they bitch, to much and they bitch. I guess that just goes to prove the old saying correct, A happy sailor is a bitching sailor!
Sail on... sail on!!!
Oh, kwitcherbeefin. I LOVE pillows!
LOL, you're funny. For me it's smells. It always smells weird when I'm not home.
My "accustomed"? I'll go with the theme and limit my remarks to pillows upon the bed.
Five. Two for me, not too big, and definitely malleable. Two for Sierra, one of them a longish "body pillow" that serves as comfort for her surgically repaired knees, and the other one a sculpted-foam type pillow that claims to be of a "space-age polymer; designed by NASA for use on the Space Shuttle". Or something to that effect. The fifth pillow is atop the chest-of-drawers at the foot of the bed, and Cedar sleeps on that when she's not wreaking havoc at any unspecified hour of the late evening/early morning, as cats are wont to do.
Scooby slums around and shares as the share-ees are willing...
In the tropics, a second or third pillow was called a 'dutch-wife'. I trained my kids on no less than two pillows. Can't sleep with just one. I end up stealing my husband's pillow late at night in hotel rooms if we have just once. But it's a free for all because he does the same thing when he wakes up with his hotel pillow.
What city did you go to?
pillows are wonderful bed companions. I like one human fellow sleeper and lots and lots of pillows. sorry.... home? it's the light and the smells that make it so. dorothy was right. Ruby slippers, anyone?
accustomed?
my bed...twin sized...in my quiet room...
white eyelet comforter...white eyelet dust ruffle...
and
three or four pillows. one of which i've had since childhood.
oh and as for what you'd want with all those pillows in a hotel room? *tsk* faith, faith, faith...
if there were just two [adults] of you...imagine the possibilities.
o_o don't make me spell it out for you. you read. how good are you at reading between the lines?
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