This morning while I was making up the bed, I thought about my honeymoon. Do people still go on honeymoons, or is that just some quaint old custom now? I remember that Judy put great thought into her trousseau. Do brides have trousseaus anymore? But I digress. I think one purpose of the honeymoon is for the newlywed couple to get to know each other. Judy and I had been dating for years, but unlike the hip kids today, we hadn't cohabited, and we had a lot to learn.
For example: I come from a weird family. Some of us (especially me) were picky about pillows. When we went on trips, we took our pillows with us. When I went off to college, I took a suitcase and my pillow. So naturally I took my pillow on the honeymoon. When I took it out of the car, Judy asked me why I had a pillow, and I explained that hotel pillows just weren't satisfactory.
She said, "I didn't bring a pillow. Can I use that one?"
Gallant soul that I was, I said, "Sure. I can manage with the motel pillow."
When we were getting ready for bed that evening, I put the pillow down on the right-hand side of the bed. Judy said, "I thought you told me I could use the pillow." I admitted that I had and said that I'd put it on the bed for her.
She said, "I don't sleep on that side of the bed."
I said, "I don't, either."
I have a feeling you know where this is going, so I won't drag it out. Let's just say that for nearly 50 years I slept on the right-hand side of the bed.
As I said up above, we had a lot to learn about each other. I learned almost immediately who was going to run things. Not that I minded one bit.
13 comments:
I gave up my side of the bed too, Bill. And shirts, etc. Also, Sherry's from Minnesota, so I gave up having my food neatly sorted on the plate because her family made lots of casseroles. Of course, I got a lot in return. Sherry's fantastic with carpentry, mechanics, and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.
Nice story. I didn't have a trousseau, but definitely a honeymoon--even though we'd been "cohabiting" for two years. The irony was, we paid in advance for everything--a ski trip to Lake Tahoe. Three months before the wedding, I fell and broke my ankle in five places. I got out of the cast a week before my wedding--no skiing for Deb on that trip!
Very sweet. People who knew you both were very lucky folks.
Great story. I do remember my brother taking his pillow with him to summer camp so you're not that weird.
And which is the right side of the bed, anyway? The right side as you're facing it? Since I'd never slept in anything but a single bed before that wasn't a problem for me. I gave her the right side as it was nearer the window in our first apartment and it's been the same side since.
As for a honeymoon, ours was a trip to a B&B in London six months after the wedding.
Jeff
As always, especially when you mention Judy, a great story. Thanks. Trousseau, no. Honeymoon, yes. Camping. We were a lot younger then.
sas
The kids among those I used to work with are still taking honeymoons, when they can fit them into schedules that have them working 50 hours+ a week.
I think trousseaus (trousseaux) are a thing of the past, pretty much...if not quite dowry level gone (again, things not to miss about the old days...dowries these days are helping the kids buy their cars and houses and such).
I've never had a problem being on the Other side of a bed, so I hope that wasn't too much a sacrifice...
I'm impressed you make beds. I'm starting to see the wisdom in washing the sheets every several days (having a washer in the house can make that easier) and immediately saw the wisdom in letting the sheets air out in their tussled state rather than making the bed, when that was first suggested to me. Of course, the cats occasionally managing to track littler and such into the bed when they don't get it all off their paws before jumping in has been among the persuasive aspects...
(For my part, never married, two 9-year romantic affairs (one where we lived together, one where we didn't), and have been cohabitating Platonically with Alice for the better part of 20 years now...so, not too married, yet kinda sorta was. And am. Or not.
Amusingly, the more syllabic "cohabitate" has come to suggest less intimacy, or at least less sex, than "cohabit" or at least to connote...(Elvis sings "A Change of Habit" in the background).
That was sweet. Kathy & I only knew each other for a couple months before we got married, and we could not afford a Honeymoon. The wedding itself cost about $100.
You don't really appreciate being young & foolish till you get old & stupid.
Beautiful story, as always. Keep 'em coming as they occur to you. We didn't have a honeymoon since we got married on Saturday and Livia's college classes started on Monday. Still haven't had one. I slept on the right side of the bed before we got married but moved to the left side after, and I'm still there. Never bothered me.
Weddings are a big industry today, thanks to the catering, hotel, and travel interests who saw a way to turn the hype over the Charles/Di ceremony three decades ago into an ongoing cash cow. If you can't sink 50 thou into the ceremony and reception, and honeymoon in Hawaii, what good is it.
When my wife and I got married, I was just out of college looking for a job and she was teaching 8th grade. We had a two-day honeymoon over Labor Day weekend in Cincinnati. My in-laws footed the bill. The reception was in the church rec room, catered by the members of the church as a potluck. Bill, I think the Blosser and Crider couples had a lot more fun and happier memories on a tiny budget than today's young consumers going wild with a credit card or Pop's bank account.
Great story, Bill, I just love these remanences. As James said, keep 'em coming.
We had a short honeymoon, drove up California Hwy 1 (think the scene in The Graduate) to Carmel and Monterey for a week including drive days. We had great weather, the place we stayed surprised us with a bottle of champagne, it was great, and since we got married by the County Justice of the Peace in the courthouse, which cost only a modest fee, we were sensibly frugal. The reception was us and three couples at a local, favorite, restaurant.
I can't understand blowing a lot of money on a big wedding.
Wait a sec, there are too many right sides of the bed. Don't you mean left at the end?
Anyway, I prefer the left side. The pillow fetish is a little odd, but I always took a couple to Tankon since I also had to bring a cot, blanket, and sleeping bag.
Wonderful story, by the way.
Since I happen to live close to THE HONEYMOON CAPITAL OF THE WORLD--Niagara Falls--I can assure you that people still go on honeymoon escapades. But I'm pretty sure their honeymoon experience is a lot different from yours! Wonderful story!
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