You Made Your Bed.....

...or have you??   Growing up, I was never allowed to leave my bed unmade.  That was one of Mom's firm, fast rules.  NO EXCUSES!  As a kid, I never could see the logic in making the bed.....I was just gonna get back in it, in a matter of hours....so why waste time making it??  Mom didn't agree with my logic, and would go so far as to inspect the bed after I'd 'made' it, to make sure it was up to her high standards.  It seldom was!  Having to re-make the bed was worse than having to make it the first time, 'cause now, I'm mad, too!

I vowed, that when I was living on my own....I'd never make my bed again!  Well, I finally had my own place and just couldn't seem to firmly adhere to the vow I'd made many years before.  I went through periods...sometimes years...when I would leave my bed unmade.  Problem was, I couldn't stand looking at it that way, so I'd just shut the bedroom door.  That tactic was only partially successful,  'cause I was constantly having to go into my bedroom throughout the day, for one reason or another, and everytime I saw that unmade bed, I would cringe.

Then, I went through my "Patty Perfect" period....when my bed was always made...and the house was always spotless.  Needless to say, that era didn't last too long.  I'm just not a 'neat-freak' by nature & the attempt at being one was just too exhausting!  My philosophy is that my house be "Clean enough to be Healthy...and Dirty enough to be Happy".

Many years later, I found myself married, and living in a nice home.....but I HATED our bedroom.  It was small, dark, and had hideous wallpaper!  Although we were in the process of remodeling the house....we had agreed that the bedrooms would be the last to be refurbished.  Well, this provided the perfect opportunity to once again leave the bed unmade!  I hated that room so much, that I would find reasons NOT to go in there until I had to.  PROBLEM SOLVED.....or so I thought!  Hubby seemed very irritated that I was no longer making the bed.  Every day, he complained.  I finally had enough of his crap & told him to "make the damn bed YOURSELF if it bothers you that much! "  That's when I learned that HE never had to make his bed growning up.  His mom did it for him....WELL I'M NOT YOUR MOTHER!!  After that....I refused to make the bed...just out of spite....and HE never made the bed, so I was left to assume that either it ceased to bother him any longer....or he just learned that complaining about it  wasn't working either!

Alas, I'm back in one of those stages where I can't stand to see my bed unmade!  As I was making it this morning, I began thinking of when this whole bed-making thing began?  (I try to look for logical and practical explanations for WHY we do certain things.)  I concluded that it must have begun around the time settlers started the movement westward.  Many of them ended up in ramshackle houses, carved out of the hillside,  with thatch and mud roofs.  In a house like that....I can really see the necessity in making your bed.   If you don't, you end up with chunks of dried mud or straw in your bed, that drop from the roof. (there were NO interior ceilings in those days)  That would be very uncomfortable to sleep on!   Necessity being the 'mother of invention', I can see the need to make your bed when you live in such a house. 

After making my bed, I made my customary morning stop in the bathroom.  That got me to thinking about why the "two-holer" outhouse was created.....but that's a whole other story, I'm sure!!