THESE TIMES

You lie in the bed you made (or don’t)

Kirk Ericson | Nov 30, 20230

After a lifetime of not doing so, I started making our bed two months ago. The spur was mostly a desire to improve order in the courtroom, which it has, but we’ve also discovered the satisfaction of slipping into a smooth invitation at the end of the day.

Your mind drifts while making the bed, and mine drifted the other day to a question: How many people make their bed? In 2011, an organization asked America just that. It’s 70% of us, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Last week, I sent an email to 21 Journal readers in Mason County to discover whether they make the bed. I selected the 21 readers because they’ve sent me kind comments over the years and because I suspected they’d consort with this foolishness. Twelve responded, and one answered by saying she wasn’t going to answer. Of those 12, nine said they engage in some manner of bed-making, and three do not. That’s 75 percent for the bed-makers — 5 percentage points more than the rest of America, allegedly.

Thanks to all who responded.

“I do make my bed. I also tuck in the pillow cover. This I have done since Mrs. Froon took her first out-of-town contract job, fall/winter of 2019. It was to Fairport, Illinois, and her lodgings were in Rockford, Illinois, home of the Sock Monkey, Danica Patrick and the band Cheap Trick. I began making the bed daily because with her gone, I could do it while the cat ate and the coffee brewed. I did not have to ‘get back to it later’ when we had arisen — all three of us, if you count the cat, and I do count the cat. It is now a habit rarely neglected. Now I get into bed, draw up the covers, adjust the pillow and it’s “Goodnight, Morpheus, Hello, Erebus and Sweet Dreams, Hypnos.’ ”

— Doc Froon, Shelton

“Yes, I make my bed every day, and I’ve been doing it since I went to summer camp in Maine at age 11. The practice helped me a lot when I went to Army basic training 10 years later, and the bed had to be tight enough that a quarter would bounce off of it. To this day, I love the feeling of sliding into a tightly made bed.”

— Steve Hecht, Grapeview

“We use two beds and I make them both, if I can beat my wife to the task. It says I care for her as I do it and she gets the message. I have been doing this for a few years. She has started turning down my bed for me at night and I get the same silent message from her. We have been friends since 1965 and married since 1990!”

— Allen Roth, Shelton

“Currently, I don’t make the bed. Why? My husband is in it.”

— Jeannine Daggett

“I don’t make my bed all tidy, but I do make it so as you said, no fussing required while I’m tired and just ready to crawl in between Mr. & Mrs. Sheets. Then, it’s head down on Mr. Pillow, aka my giant marshmallow ;-)

— Karen Hranac, Shelton

“Growing up, my sister and I hung a sign on our shared bedroom door: ‘Unmade beds are friendlier.’ But as a grownup, I consistently make my bed in the morning. It gets my day off to a good start, and I can always point to my one accomplishment.”

— Lynn Busacca, Shelton

“Learned very early, my first chore and even now I make all beds ... Hotels, even sleeping bags. It’s like ending the night and launching the day!”

— Dena Ingalls

“I sometimes make my bed and sometimes I don’t. The reason depends on if I make it as soon as I think about it or do I take the chance and wait 15 seconds because by that time I am already focused on the next thing that happened to pop up in my mind.”

— Greg A. Shelton

“I have made my bed every day since I was child. In high school assisting in the nurse’s room, I learned how to make hospital corners with the sheets on the ends of the beds. Loved it. Sometimes I think of the lady who taught us when making my bed today.”

— Margaret Chambers, Shelton

“In the Marine Corps, 1970, I had to ensure when the sergeant dropped a quarter from on high it would bounce back up off the tight and fastidiously made bed. Today, with an exposed bottom sheet, I then uniformly fold the main top blanket and place it neatly at the foot of the bed and call it good.”

— Darrell Barker, Shelton

“I recently broke my habit of daily bed making. I hope this inspires me to get back to it. A made bed is so nice! It’s prettier, easier to get in and out of, and causes me to sigh with contentment whenever I walk into the room.”

— Sherry, Harstine Island

“Nope. Moisture builds up overnight, and making the bed traps that moisture, which allows bed mites to thrive. I am not enamored of bed mites. Have you seen high resolution closeups of bed mites? Yikes. As for any psychological reasons to do so, I am too far gone for that to matter.”

— Name withheld by request