My new pillow

You get a little bit of everything when you visit Entertaining Stories folks. Tonight, I want to talk about pillows.

Guys never really worry about stuff like this. It’s wives that are the catalyst for change over such things. New sheets, towels, that kind of thing. In early Fall, Old What’s Her Face said we needed new pillows. I think I may have answered something like, “Uh- huh.”

I’ve used the same old pillow for years and years, and had no problem with it. One day she met me at the door and said, “Our new My-Pillows are here.” You know the ones they advertise on TV and radio with those annoying ads. I think I said something insightful like, “Cool.”

We both commented about how awesome they were. Truth is we both hated them. I caved first and told her I hated my new pillow and asked where my old one was. She breathed a sigh of relief and admitted she hated hers too. These things are overstuffed, smothering, heat retaining, torture devices.

I happily went back to my old pillow. Then fate struck me a cruel blow. See, the dogs like to play on the bed. They’re fun, they bounce around and act all crazy. For some reason (I wasn’t home at the time) my pillow didn’t have a pillow case. Frankie had been outside and didn’t properly clean herself. I wound up with a large fecal stain on my pillow; the one without a pillow case. After playing Taps over the garbage can, I sadly returned to My-Pillow.

Really sorry, Dad.

It took me one night to realize this was never going to work. Somewhere about this time, I started sleeping in a chair because I hurt my back. This means it had to have been about early December. When I finally returned to our bed, I grabbed an ancient throw-pillow and used it. It was so much better than My-Pillow. It was old enough that I could fold it and sleep on my side, or use it as-is to sleep on my back.

Still, this isn’t a long term solution, and I needed a new pillow. About twenty years ago I heard of this odd pillow that always intrigued me. Lo and behold, they were still around on Amazon. I showed my wife and she secretly bought me one. I am the proud owner of a new buckwheat hull filled pillow.

Unfortunately, she measured and ordered one that is too small for our king-sized bed. The pillow is about the size of a big computer screen. Not to be deterred, I had a new pillow and needed to try it out. It’s still bigger than the throw pillow I’d been using.

I love the damned thing.

First, they shipped it with extra hulls in case I need to add more. It comes with a zipper that is well hidden and I can remove hulls too if I want. I haven’t done anything drastic, but I may remove a cup or two. My-Pillow should have thought of that. I would have gutted it like a fish and tried it again.

This thing shapes to my head, then stays there. I can punch it up or spread it thinner depending on what I want. This is a big plus because I sleep on my side and my back. Here is another fun thing. I may be unique here, but I’ll admit it anyway. Sometimes I wake up with a pain in my ear from sleeping on it. It folds or crushes, etc. Like I said, I could be unique. The buckwheat hull pillow takes one more small dent with a finger and leaves a place for my ear. It’s awesome, I’m telling you.

Finally, this thing stays cool all night. I hate hot pillows, and the promos say it’s because air can circulate around the hulls during the night. Whatever the reason is, I’ll take it.

I’m still in the test drive phase, but one week in this is looking like a winner to me. I’ll give it more time before deciding if I’ll remove some of the hulls.

It’s kind of like a sandbag, but buckwheat hulls are larger than grains of sand and lighter too. You can bet it’s in a frigging pillow case now too.