Pillows

I know for a fact that as we get older, we get quirkier. I saw this happen with my grandmother and also with my mother. Now I'm getting to be that person. I’m now the person that brings their own pillow to a hotel for the weekend – or at least should.

Pillows - I'll never take them for granted again.

I used to privately laugh at people carrying pillows through the airport. I thought to myself, “Can't you just buck up and sleep on what the hotel has made available?”

But I learned the importance of bringing such an item the hard way when I forgot to bring my pillow for my Girls Weekend Adventure on Friday. I realized the mistake about halfway to my destination so it was too late to turn around. It wouldn't make any sense to buy a new pillow either.

First, it's not like I'm a big germ-a-phobe and I worried about catching something from the hotel pill. And, second, getting your pillow to that state of perfectness is not easily done, or at least it isn't for me. It takes years to get them molded just perfectly. I have to fluff it, mold it, pull it and of course, sleep on it as I attempt to break it in.

The importance of a good pillow should not be trivialized. Pillows, in my opinion, are influential in everything from helping alleviate back or neck pain to determining how you wake up in the morning. Do you awake rested or weary? Sleeping on a bad pillow can literally be a pain in the neck for me.

So as I’m at the hotel and I know I need to find a pillow for the night. It’s at that point that I felt much like Goldilocks. Each pillow was too fluffy, too flat until finally, I discovered what was just right – a blanket. Yes, I found relief by using a blanket as my pillow but my neck and back thanked me in the morning.

I’m now resigned to the fact that I will likely be one of those people the remainder of my life – lugging pillows around on planes and weekend getaways. Could be worse I guess as I've learned I need to keep the teddy bear at home.