Bedside Table
June 17, 2008 From Under the Overpasses:
Every Monday in June and July a group of teenagers from a local camp come to the shelter to do a service project. I usually begin with a tour of the facilities and then turn their eager hands loose on a project. One young lady who is one of the camp counselors said to me on the tour, “You can read a person’s life by that person’s bedside table.” I was intrigued by what she meant by that. She said that she could learn everything she really needed to know about her campers by looking at their bedside essentials. “It’s the last things you lay down at night and the first thing you grab in the morning. It’s what is important to you in the middle of the night when you are alone.”
After you read the rest of this funny, touching, wonderful post you'll probably do exactly what I did - go look at what's on your bedside table. On mine? A stack of books I'm reading, a bible, 3 journals, 2 water bottles, an alarm clock blinking 12:00, CPAP machine, a plastic bag, a couple of pens, a bottle of shampoo. What can I say? I am a cluttered soul. On the Resident Love Goddess's side of the bed? Well, her table is a picture of elegant simplicity: alarm clock, lamp, a library book, a daily devotional, a small teddy bear.
What's on your bedside table?
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Reader Comments (17)
MistiPearl - All my realities are alternates.
tanya - It really gets you thinking, doesn't it?
I put my cellphone, which i set as an alarm clock, under my pillow. And i put my wristwatch under the bed.
i have a stack of books - breviary, office of the hours, lectio divina, journal, pens...a jewelry box that has barely anything in it, my alarm clock and my glasses before i lay down.
i used to take my cell phone and put it on the nightstand, but realized i am not all that important and nobody called me in the wee smalls.
barrenmind - You must be a light sleeper. I would never hear a cell phone go off.
Anna - I don't know what to make of my bedside table either. Maybe I have too much clutter in my head!!
m2 - I seem to remember you did a meme like this some time ago? Do you remember anything surprising about the answers?
RWK - yea, i can even hear if somebody will send a text message or so
a lamp, that is just not light enough for reading... i could use a brighter one so that i can read in bed,
there is a battery operated fiber optics lamp that shines blue light... it was my daughter's light and i took it because she did not want it... it is a very nice soft light,
and usually at least one pair of earrings.
other stuff comes and goes.
and dust. alot of dust.