My Pillow...

For the first part of the trip we took a few weeks ago we played the old "did you remember" game. I was so proud of myself. I could nod or say, "yes" to every single questions that Mr. B came up with. I even had the new insurance verification in the glove compartment. Okay, so it had a smear of sour cherry candy on it. I didn't know they melted when closed in a tight space if the temperature was in the triple digits. The state police in the seven states we would be crossing wouldn't give me a ticket for a messed up insurance paper, would they?

When we reached the first motel, I was feeling right smug. I had even packed a small "motel" suitcase so we didn't have to drag everything out of the truck every single night. One look at that motel bed and I knew what I'd forgotten. Smug was kicked to the curb!

Pillows! I had forgotten my very own personal, cheap pillow that has the mold of my face and right ear firmly implanted into the fiber filling. Mr. B just shrugged when I whined. He'd make a terrible poker player because his expression said that he would suffer through the night without his feather pillow but it would be far worse than a root canal.

Those giant hotel pillows were wonderful when it came to propping up against the fake headboard and reading until I got sleepy. Maybe I'd over reacted and Mr. B was already snoring so evidently he didn't need a fluffy white cloud to sleep on.

I snuggled down and decided that I wasn't so old I had to have my own pillow. I could sleep very well with the hotel pillow and tomorrow I'd wake up ready to get on with the trip.

One hour later, I awoke with a Charlie horse...only it was in my neck. Not my leg. One can not stand up on their neck so I took out my frustration and pain upon that pillow. I beat on it for ten minutes but the foamy stuff in the middle kept springing back to life. I considered driving a stake through the middle of the thing but I couldn't find any wood and I figured the hotel might charge me extra if the desk leg was missing when they came in to clean the next morning.

Finally, pure exhaustion set in and I slept. For one hour! At that point I threw all three of my pillows at the wall, wadded up a blanket and pretended it was my pillow.

The next night when we stopped I was so tired I could have slept on a park bench and used the cast iron arms for a pillow without whining. Just guide me in the direction of the bed and I would not whine.

They did not have vampire, zombie pillows but what they did have was old enough to qualify for a senior citizen's discount over at the Braum's store. I told myself that wine was better the older it got, that my pillow at home was insured as an antique and this was fine. At least they weren't the size of Mt. Everest.

An hour after we went to sleep I awoke with another Charlie horse...this time from my neck to the top of my toes. My right ear felt as if it were resting on a rock. Another lump had put my neck in a kink that was guaranteed to put my chiropractor's children through medical school...all eight of them. Another lump beside my cheek bone was trying to pop my eyeball out into the floor and a four one I'm sure is the sorry culprit that gave me ten years worth of extra wrinkles on the right side of my face.

Next time we travel, I may forget the insurance papers. I may forget vitamin pills, toothpaste, an umbrella and even my favorite hair brush, but I will never forget my pillow again!!

So tell me, what very important item have you forgotten on a trip?