It is not who you sleep with, but what you sleep on

(sometimes they are the same thing! *rim shot*)

This is going to be an ode to my mattress and my sleeping patterns, therefore, if you don't give a damn, I advise you to stop reading...now.

Until I was 17, I slept on the right side of the bed. Always on the right side. It was my side, and then...something happened, and I started sleeping on the left side. It mattered not if the bed was against the wall, or in which direction it was facing, I would sleep on the left side. I can remember one time where I made the choice to sleep on the right side of the bed (hotel room and I needed an outlet) and it was some of the worst sleep that I have had as an adult (though that could have been related to hotel room bed issues).

Up until this past weekend, I had spent one night sleeping normally in my one bed over the past two weeks and I missed it. (Visiting my father, @paigethesage's visit, and then vacation with the family.) Therefore, last night, I decided to take advantage of it. I didn't sleep on either side, I slept in the middle. It was glorious.

(Now time for a regression)

Over the weekend, @pvh1976 and An Observer had a discussion about my sleeping habits and my choice of sleeping partner. Why? I presume it is because they like me and that they care about me, or they enjoy talking about my sleeping habit. Anyway, An Observer suggested that is I do not stop sleeping with my dog, I will never have anyone else to share my bed, while PVH1976 believe that I should use Curly as a litmus test, as in, "Love Me, Love My Dog". They did have a conversation about this in all earnestness. It was lovely to see. It was also cute to see them thinking that their opinions on this matter were going to be taken seriously, or so they thought. I sleep with the dog because he is my best friend. I sleep with the dog because I love him, and I sleep with the dog because apart from snuggling, he has zero expectations of me.

Anyway, because it was warmish in my bedroom, Curly chose to sleep on the floor, which meant that I had the bed to myself and it was great...until about three am.

At that point, (which is normally when the Voices wake me up anyway) my lower back started to ache. Maybe not ache...

Hold on, let me start over.

At that point, my back started to throb like an unmittened thumb hit by a hammer on a cold February morning.

It made the rest of the morning difficult. Normally, I would read, or watch something, or respond to e-mails, or any of the normal silly things that I use to fight off my average insomniac behaviors but the dull throb couple with being tired acted as prohibiting factors so...I brought out the big gun to fall asleep.

While I love this program, when one is very tired, it can be used for good, and with the entire archive of every show they have ever done, I was able to use the This American Life iPhone app to lull myself to sleep.

I am going to try sleeping in the middle again tonight and I am going to chalk my back pain up to something else.

Viva La Middle!