Sleeping on the left side of the Bed.

The second official post on this blog and honestly this one is super personal and reflective. I don't know how introspective I will get for these weekly blog posts but for now, bare with me. If you also don't like hearing or reading about relationships this one may not be for you... With that being said... on with the self-reflective ramble!

To the person this is written for, I hope this isn't too revealing or well corny. And if it gets too much I am sorry - I am writing this at 1:00 am my brain is just vomiting thoughts through my keyboard onto the internet... sorry...

Six years ago, a significant life event happened that changed the path I expected to take. My original plan was to finish my undergraduate degree and find a job that had good pay. Then from there live with my parents until I saved up enough money to move out and live my <5>-style life, safe with a little bit of excitement sprinkled in. Maybe I'd find someone and settle down but that was always a "nice to have" rather than an actual goal. At that point in time, pre-life changing event, I slept in the middle of my twin-sized bed. It was comfortable, I had plenty of space and I only needed my one pillow and a few blankets, and maybe a fan on hot summer nights.

Technically speaking I met you 8 years ago, but we were friends then. The most memorable event from our first year of knowing each other was you throwing a snowball at me in the dead of winter on our way to class. Or was it on our way from class? The small details escape me. Regardless, I do not know why but this I believe was the start of the seed that would later become that life-changing event.

During the 2 years as friends, I got to know you and got closer to you. I enjoyed every second of it. During this time two people I would talk to watered the seed and got the momentum of my heart started. One conversation, on a date I met on Tinder (we've talked about this) was more generally pointing me towards doing something unexpected and the other was with a close friend that pointed me towards you. The ideas simmered in my head for a year before I did anything really but they were there, you were there, running through my mind... constantly.

Then came the actual year of the life-changing event and this was an unexpected yet exciting one. Maybe it was the thrill of the unknown, we both are very different but, I believe complimentary. At the time I didn't know it, let alone articulate it but you were and still are my first and most important <10>. The event itself stretched over 2 nights for me and it all started with a very PG sleepover - no sarcasm intended. That was the first night I started sleeping on the left side of my tiny twin-sized bed. The original reason I sleep on the left side of my bed was that I enjoyed the cooling sensation of the wall pressing against my skin. In that house, with those roommates, the heat was always on in the winter and the summer was ridiculously hot. There was no big symbolism there at the beginning just pure practicality.

Over the past 6 years, the practicality disappeared I moved back home with my parents after having finished school and the bed setup was different. Even though we are not living together and have spent not enough time together, I have come to realize that the right side of any bed I sleep in will always be yours. And sometimes if I close my eyes real hard and hug a pillow it's almost like you are there. I don't feel like this is a grandiose proclamation of love or anything like that. This reflection of our story is me stating this for me. The <10>-lifestyle future that I envision and will build has me waking up, on the left side of the bed opening my eyes to you there wherever we end up.

To generalize everything I have written, to make this post more valuable to more people than just the person I am writing about, essentially a TLDR: The future I am shaping has certain people I want in it and for those people, I will always make room. For this reason, I will always sleep on the left side of my bed.

Be on the lookout for the short story "Death in the Mountains" which should be released sometime this week. Subscribe/Sign-up to our newsletter to get notifications of more posts or have them sent to your email directly!