Bed Making

 

Once you’re retired, it can be tricky holding on to what day of the week it is.

Sticking to my working-life schedule of sheet changing on Sunday helps. I did double duty last week after we’d had company, and remaking that bed with the old bedspread we’d inherited from My Guy’s grandmother triggered a thought.

          Called a “Martha Washington,” this must have been a popular design – I remember my grandmother had one also – and it’s generously proportioned, with plenty of fabric to cover the end of the bed plus the top, the way I used to assume all bedspreads are cut. Growing up, I was taught to turn back the top portion, put the pillows neatly on top, and then fold it back over them, tucking the excess under the pillows.

          But to my knowledge, today’s bedspreads have no such excess yardage for tucking. It's likely just another way to chintz the customer out of fabric, or maybe it’s because the world’s gone to duvets topped by piles of decorative pillows so that you spend a hefty lump of time yanking them all off before you can finally fall into bed.

          This assumes people even make their bed up each morning. I’m a Virgo and can’t function in a room with an unmade bed.

          And here’s another thing I was taught. Around here, each change of sheets is automatically mitered. If teaching hadn’t panned out I’d probably have done well in the hotel trade.