Comfort

Comfort [ˈkʌmfət]

n   1. a state of ease or well-being

2. relief from affliction, grief, etc.

3. a person, thing, or event that brings solace or ease

4. Obsolete support

5. (usually plural) something that affords physical ease and relaxation

vb (tr)

1. to ease the pain of; soothe; cheer

2. to bring physical ease to

[from Old French confort, from Late Latin confortāre to strengthen very much, from Latin con- (intensive) + fortis strong]

Source – thefreedictionary.com

If this comforter could talk.

There are stories I would want it to tell and then there are stories I would rather it didn’t.

This is the comforter my grandmother bought me to take to my first dorm room in college. Yes, I said FIRST dorm room. Which means, it was purchased in August of 1986. Do the math – 24 years. Yes, I still have it. Yes, it is still usually on our bed. I think it cost all of $20 or maybe $30 at Bradlee’s at the mall. I remember the day we bought it distinctly. I was so excited about leaving for college.

This comforter has been a source of warmth and comfort for me for so long, it is almost a part of me. My  dorm room, how many nights did I sit on this blanket on my bed, think of my oh-so-far-off-when-will-the-weekend-get-here boyfriend, studying, eat, sleep, and cry homesick tears?

It lay on the bed in our first apartment.

It went on vacations with us.

It has gone outside to snuggle and watch the stars.

It has snuggled my children.

(and you can see how much more vibrant the colors were in circa 1994, possibly 1995!)

Long gone are the matching pillow cases. 

It has provided us so much comfort, so much peace at times, and the corners have dried many tears. 

It has been supposedly replaced with a new fancy, damask silk piped comforter, that matches the room. But, it still lies underneath. Uncovered every night, as the expensive comforter is folded down, so it stays  nice and clean and will last forever because it is so pretty. The fancy matching fabric will never feel like “the” comforter. Newer ones have been bought and tossed as “not the same” or “just not right”.  Perhaps money can’t buy comfort. All I know is we will reach for this one before most of the others in a heart beat.

It has become so soft over the years. Feels so good wrapped around your shoulders. It is “just right”and now  I can now totally *get* Goldilocks.

And.

it.

is.

JUST a blanket.

Right?

Then, why when I saw this when I was making the bed this week did my heart stop beating for a split second?

Holes.

No! Not holes.

The washings (the 100’s of hot washings because of C’s allergies) over the years have faded it. I have noticed the padding inside getting thinner and thinner.

But.not.holes.

Not “the” comforter”.

Sir Fartsalot and I have often often often had the “we should put it away” talk about the comforter. Thus, “saving it” – but to what avail?  What good is having it if we can’t enjoy it’s comfort? Like anything that we own, that is “good” and only used occasionally? (which I can say is not much around here)

So it stays on the bed. But I feel the count down coming.

How long until it looks like this….

This is “green blankie” – it was one of the blankets Sirfartsalots mom had when he was a baby. when the kids came along, she put it in the crib for their visits. K slept under it, and that was it. But C, loved it, and as soon as he could claim it , he did. It has been with him since he was probably 2 years old.

This is what 11 years do to a silk blanket.

Again. allergies and the weekly hot water washings have taken it’s toll. C has begged me to “fix it” – but it is shredded. I have gotten to the point where I can’t wash it anymore. But it is still on his bed.

So I guess some day, when I am in my rocker, rocking as an old grey haired hip old lady, my comforter will be with me. Perhaps shredded, perhaps not. I will probably tell anyone who will sit long enough to listen, every story that goes with “the comforter” – who knows, but there is one thing for sure,

“The comforter” is not going anywhere anytime soon.

(Oh! And then I guess we could talk about that purple crocheted blanket that is on the bed, that my grandmother crocheted for me , also when I went to college.)