I ran across this photo when transferring the contents of our Ikea desk to my great-grandfather's desk. It is one of only a few showing my "night-night" in its original glorious state. In the 25+ years after this photo, this blanket practically shredded from love and overuse. Yes, I will admit it. I slept with this blanket every night for nearly 27 years. It lost most of its mass and any semblance of shape. Around year 20 it passed the point of being untangled into the rectangle it once was.
On a very sad day in February 2005, I was on a business trip to Phoenix. I came down with bronchitis, mid-audit. I spent the day + night sick in a hotel room and took a 6 am flight back to Boston. When I unpacked, I learned that in my sick state, I had left my night-night in the hotel room. Calls to the hotel staff yielded the sad truth that a blanket in such a state was not lost-and-found-worthy. My night-night was gone.
My mom and sister were very sympathetic. Betsy knows the joys of a night-night (she has 3); my mom had made mine. Betsy mailed me a speck that had landed on her floor during one of my visits that she had saved for posterity. My mom sent a larger section that had separated from the rest years before, anticipating such a point where the large section was either lost or shrank even more. Sadly, neither could replace the original.
I am fully aware that this is not normal - to keep a baby blanket for 25 or 30 years. But I am still saddened by its sudden disappearance. At least now I have Matt and two cats to take its place as I sleep. That is more than a fair trade.
No comments:
Post a Comment