So, I totally woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and it was an odd experience, mainly because it was not figurative, but a literal definition of the phrase. Went to bed at one angle and woke up with a 90* difference. Not so odd for small children *cough*Duke*, but uncanny for me to say the least. It may help to know that for the past 8 or so years I have either slept in a single or shared anything larger. I don’t remember if I moved around a lot as a child, but as an adult, this hasn’t been an option. I would’ve ended up on the floor with this kind of movement.
It was hard enough acclimating to having a large bed to myself these past couple months. The space bothered me whenever I would unconsciously reach out in my sleep for that reassuring warmth and it was never there. At least with a small bed I was never under this illusion. Sleeping most of the time involved a hand or foot, or both handing midair. So for a while, I surrounded myself with pillows and always made sure the edges of pillow cases were available for wiping up excess eye leakage on the more difficult nights. And, gradually, I grew accustomed to being alone.
There was the day that helped with this process. A dear friend of mine was going back to college and I made her a last second scrapbook, which is not an easy process for me, and I did it...in one night. Of course, this frenzied attempt had been working past midnight before it was completed, albeit, rather sloppily. Nevertheless, it had everything I wanted to convey and I was pleased. I put the completed work aside and was ready to collapse immediately when I realized, my bed was covered in paper, glue, stickers, you name it, it was probably on some portion of my work bench. All I could think was, “pduoicnebcue” as my head wasn’t making sense with exhaustion. So I did what any person in this mindset would do - I pushed things around until I could fit in a prone position, and then I fell asleep.
Granted, it was not the easiest sleep. I’m pretty sure I found the scissors I had lost earlier that night, but when I woke I was refreshed. After that day, I realized a perk of having a big bed to yourself: There’s enough room for you and a quite a bit of crap too. And with time and the personal changes I was experiencing, I was working on a couple projects. In this process, a new sleeping arrangement was found. I slept in my bed, diagonally. On one side was my phone, glasses, book, water, all my night-time necessities; and on the other, the project of the day. And I was content with this. However, as you change, so do your routines. This can be sad for me, but encouraging as well.
These days I prefer to work on my projects downstairs, more often than not, for a variety of reasons, so my bed is typically quite empty. Plus, I think I was really starting to like having the space to myself as there has been the occasional time I have kicked something off the bed! And that isn’t common for me since I’ve slept with a cat for the majority of my life. You learn not to kick “random” objects off, even when half asleep, or you will be woken from this novice, kitty-owner mistake.
However, every night I still start with my head at about 11 and one foot at 5 - my sleep positions are similar to some of Peace Softball’s forms when stretching, so the other foot could be anywhere. And with the gradual acceptance of freedom of night-time movement, my head could end up anywhere between 11-2, while my feet could literally be anywhere lower than this(I am not like Lu in having ever been able to put my feet behind my head).
So, I was completely taken aback this morning when I found that, while I still had gone to sleep at my usual angle, my head was now at 4 and my feet at 12. Wha?! And this is when my curiosity started to take effect. How did this happen? Why was it surprising? Has this really not happened before? Does this happen to others? But the question I’m going to spend the rest of my morning on, and that I’m most eager to answer, is actually, “where did that phrase come from? ‘I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.’ And why does it have such a negative connotation, when I have found it an extremely satisfying experience.” Haha, this should be fun!
Kt
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