oh pillow, where art thou?

i'm very attached to a couple of things, my family and my pillow. my pillow has traveled the world with me; when i went to canada to live in the early '90s, the pillow came, on every holiday the pillow comes. it is a special pillow. it is older than i, probably by some margin and is most likely host to millions of things that feed off my face each evening. it is a symbiotic relationship with which i am happy because that pillow delivers the most special gift, sleep. this holiday my wife and children are spending the majority of it in west wales and last weekend i went to join them. i packed some clothes and my pillow. on wednesday, two days ago, i came back, and you guessed it, the pillow did not. i searched the house for a suitable replacement and in the end had to make do. that night i felt as if i had not slept at all. the peculiar qualities of my pillow are that age has left it very hard, in the old style of feather pillows, and as a result it is also cold. the best replacement that i could find had neither of these characteristics. as a result yesterday went by in a blur.

and then......

i had spoken to my wife, whose friend was also caravanning and who was planning on coming home today, friday. i asked whether or not the pillow could be bagged and sent home so that i could sleep well before the wedding that we are catering on saturday. it was agreed. so what happened? the weather intervened. susannah came home early and when i opened the door and turned on the light of my otherwise empty house, i spied, lying on the stairs, a rhapsody in pink (yes a pink cover), my pillow. i was so excited i managed to watch the daily show before allowing the pillow to transport my to sleep.

the end.