*“Often a bedmate became your best friend. Not just married couples, but sons sleeping with servants, sisters with one another, and aristocratic wives with mistresses. Darkness, within the intimate confines of a bed, leveled social distinctions despite differences in gender and status,” Ekirch says. “Most individuals did not readily fall sleep but conversed freely. In the absence of light, bedmates coveted that hour when, frequently, formality and etiquette perished by the bedside.”
A really poignant article from The Atlantic on why we sleep together.
I slept in the same bed as my sister for years.
Probably years after we should have stopped being afraid of the dark.
My first boyfriend in high school wasn't allowed to sleep over, but we would fall asleep together only to jolt awake at four in the morning. Just in time for him stumble blearily out to his car before my parents woke up. (Not that they didn't know.)
To this day I am far more comfortable sleeping with another person than by myself.
It ends up being an indicator for the success of my relationships.
My worst was spent sleeping back to back.
Barely our feet touching.
The boy and I sleep just like this.
**
Completely entwined.
I couldn't imagine a better way to slip into unconsciousness.
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* A beautiful photo series by Paul Schneggenburger.
** Unknown
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