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Pillow Talk

  I would like to talk about the fact that I just shelled out over a hundred dollars for a pillow.

An orthopedic pillow.

Yes, I am at the age and stage where I invested in a special pillow to help with alignment and posture.

The instructions, (yes, it came with instructions), say it could take two to three weeks to get used to it.

And they are right.

After years of sleeping on a very soft pillow, which has become so flat that it allows my head to virtually be horizontal or even worse, I figured it's time to be kinder to my neck and spine, head and shoulders.

And so I went to a special health and medical goods supply store and paid over a hundred clams.

They saw me coming.

There were many more that were much more expensive.

I couldn't believe it.

However, it is made of some soft memory foam or something that offers firm yet supple support.

There is a roll or ridge that fits under the back of my neck, firmly supporting it indeed.

Almost too much so.

It is designed for back sleeper, which I would like to be.

I always start out on my back, but then have found it so uncomfortable, that I thought a new specially designed pillow might help.

And it has.

I find I can now sleep on my back for a bit longer.  Even fall asleep on my back.

And if I want to roll on my side, I can do that too with this pillow.

The ridge that goes under my neck is also good support for sleeping on my side.

It just takes a lot of getting used to.

Pillows aren't just pillows anymore.

Oh sure, you can go to the local home furnishings store, or even the grocery store, and find a suitable pillow.

Even the hardware store sells them.

But they soon go flat, or worse.

And soon they are causing aches and pains.

These days, pillows are high tech.

Made of cooling gels so your head doesn't get too hot.

And bamboo covers so you are being environmentally friendly.

All different kinds of shapes and sizes and densities, soft, hard, high, low.

I can't remember the days when a pillow was just a pillow.

Now they are an item to be discussed around the water cooler.

You can even get body pillows, in case you need a hug, and knee pillows, to align your hips or reduce leg pain.

Heck, I remember being a very young child without a pillow!  For some reason my parents thought my brother and I didn't need them.  Perhaps they were a suffocation concern.  But we soon got them, and I guess they are a good thing.

But I am like Goldilocks when it comes to pillows:  this one is too deep, this one is too soft, this one is too high, this one is too hard.

I am sure there are many people around the world who don't even have pillows.

Perhaps they are a first world problem.

I have even seen people wear their pillows around their necks, travelling by bus or plane, sporting those semi-circle creations that who even knows if they work or not.

There are special pillows that are supposed to prevent wrinkles.

There are scented pillows that help you drift off to dreamland.

There are satin pillows so that your hair doesn't get too messy.

Yes, we are indeed a pillow obsessed society.

I only hope this new one lives up to its promise, and price.


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