We all know the story of the princess and the pea, right? In the story, a princess shows up at the door of a castle. She tells the inhabitants that she is a princess, and the queen in the castle tests her by putting a pea under 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds. The princess is so sensitive that she cannot sleep. The pea, under all those mattresses and feathers, bothers her.
I have never gotten that fairy tale. In fact, I've always thought it was silly. Who wants such a sensitive princess? I want that princess who is grabbing her sword and leading the troops, not the one who has to be coddled.
That may be partly because I'm not at all sensitive to such things. I can sleep almost-but-not-quite anywhere. I can sleep through morning noise in the tropics. I can sleep on foam mattresses with slats poking through. I can sleep in rooms that smell bad. I am not sensitive enough to be a princess. Then again, I've never claimed to be one.
Last night, I washed my sheets and I was making my bed, when I lifted the mattress higher than normal and pulled out... my arm brace.
I've been looking for that thing for months, but it never occurred to me that it could actually be under my mattress. I knew that I might have put it along the side of my mattress (the frame is bigger than the mattress), and I've checked along the edge of the mattress several times, but I did not imagine that it could be all the way under my mattress without me noticing. After all, it is made of hard plastic. It is almost a meter long. It is probably two inches high, when lying on its side. How could I not feel it under my mattress?
I've been sleeping on a hard plastic object for months, and I never noticed.
I am so clearly not a princess.
I have never gotten that fairy tale. In fact, I've always thought it was silly. Who wants such a sensitive princess? I want that princess who is grabbing her sword and leading the troops, not the one who has to be coddled.
That may be partly because I'm not at all sensitive to such things. I can sleep almost-but-not-quite anywhere. I can sleep through morning noise in the tropics. I can sleep on foam mattresses with slats poking through. I can sleep in rooms that smell bad. I am not sensitive enough to be a princess. Then again, I've never claimed to be one.
Last night, I washed my sheets and I was making my bed, when I lifted the mattress higher than normal and pulled out... my arm brace.
I've been looking for that thing for months, but it never occurred to me that it could actually be under my mattress. I knew that I might have put it along the side of my mattress (the frame is bigger than the mattress), and I've checked along the edge of the mattress several times, but I did not imagine that it could be all the way under my mattress without me noticing. After all, it is made of hard plastic. It is almost a meter long. It is probably two inches high, when lying on its side. How could I not feel it under my mattress?
I've been sleeping on a hard plastic object for months, and I never noticed.
I am so clearly not a princess.
1 comment:
hehehe - awesome. :-)
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