Sunday, June 18, 2006

Sunday Scribblings #12 - Bed


My first bed must have been a baby cot, standing in my parent´s bedroom, here in Austria, in a little village about 45minutes drive from where I live now. I grew quickly and was always tall for my age so I guess I had a bigger bed later on while we were still living there. I was 3 when we moved to Australia and first we lived in a hostel, then with some Austrians who let us stay with them for a while and then with a German family where my mother worked as a housekepper. We had a small garden flat, I didn´t have my own room and I remember my bed being in the living room, with a curtain all around it for a little privacy. My parents soon bought their own house and I shared a room with my brother. We had new beds that were placed end to end against the wall of the bedroom that ended up becoming mine alone a few years later when we started getting on each others nerves too much. I remember the bed I had in this room, it was one of those bases that looked like a mattress with another mattress on top. It felt like a princess bed to me. When I moved out of home to Bondi I bought a similar bed second hand and later a bigger double bed when my boyfriend moved in. His parents bought him a queen sized bed when he bought his own flat at Rose Bay - I´m sure they wouldn´t have if they´d known that I would also be sleeping on it. When this relationship ended - sort of - I moved back home to my princess bed but the queen sized bed in Bondi was often revisited. I started to feel a bit like a tennis ball, moving back and forth and not really going anywhere, so I left Australia for Europe where I slept in youth hostels, at friend´s homes, in B&Bs, with relatives and sometimes on trains or in train stations. It was those nights in trains and on train stations that made me really appreciate the other beds. I also worked for a year here in Reichenfels and then for one winter season in Lech am Arlberg where I had my own small rooms with single sized beds. After returning to Reichenfels I moved in with my boyfriend and we shared a very uncomfortable bed which was really 2 singles pushed togther. Quite symbolic as that´s what we always seemed to be, 2 singles, pushed togther, always with a small gap in the middle that never allowed for 100% comfort. When we moved into our own place we had a couch which we pulled out into a double bed each evening because there was only one bedroom in this flat which we used as a children´s room so my husband and I slept in the living room. We built our own house in the years while our children were in nappies and kindergarten and I insisted on having a bedroom for each child, a bedroom for us and a guest room. My husband reluctantly agreed to the guest room - he´s happy about it now because about once a month he is the guest. When we seperated I took apart our king sized bed and put it away in the cellar. I drove to ikea, bought a nice country looking, wooden bed and painted it green. This is the bed I now share with Erich. We have one large matress and one large quilt, there are no rifts, no gaps, I feel comfortable in this bed, it´s ours.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

That's your real bed: the one you feel comfortable in. Congratulations on finding it!

GreenishLady said...

That's some journey through so many beds to find the right one. I enjoyed travelling along with you.

Left-handed Trees... said...

I also loved how you carried us through your journeys through the beds you've known. What an interesting medium you've used here.

Deirdre said...

I like this, the connections between daytime life and where you sleep. It was great to read and follow you along.

Laini Taylor said...

Great metaphor, the beds shoved together with the gap in the middle! Your bed-journey is wonderfully descriptive of your life journey. How fun! And I so know about sleeping on trains. Oy. Something only the young can do. I remember a glorious night spent camped at the bus stop in front of the Lisbon train station with all the other backpackers who'd arrived by the midnight train, too late to find a hostel. It was delightful. Then awakening to the communters staring at us disdainfully while they waited for the bus!

Frankie said...

What a lovely journey you've taken us on through the procession of beds you've had. Wonderful metaphor! Thanks so much!!

Jill said...

What a great story, my beds have not been half as interesting :)

Jamie said...

I so enjoyed hearing what each of your beds has meant to you and how wonderful you're now sharing a bed that feels like home :)

African Kelli said...

Lovely post!

meghan said...

I LOVED the end of this story - YOU buying the bed that you wanted and sharing it with your love. GREAT!!!

HoBess said...

Claudia, I have tears in my eyes. You have told your life's story from such an terrific point of view. Love the way you see how you sleep as a symbol of something so much more. :)

Colorsonmymind said...

I love the historical perspective that evolved into a symbol for love and the right one...bed and love...

So glad you found the right one:)