The Table and the Bed
The Reflections of a Home
“When we intentionally strive to make our homes places where we are ready to give and receive love, every object we place there enhances our well-being” (66). — bell hooks, all about love
I think it’s important to note that, for me to get into the mood for this post, I needed to turn on Sade. Love Deluxe is an achievement for humanity.
Thinking (again) of this quote from bell hooks, I want to tell you about my home. Stating my simple life, this is the first time I’ve lived alone and have had the sole responsibility of making my home a place of rest and restoration.
Setting aside my books, there are two primary aspects that are worth indicating fight now: the table and the bed.
The Table
My studio is large enough, but it is a studio. This is a single room place that I have nicknamed “the square” because it’s really just a box. The part of the square that holds the table may have been an add-on at some point because its ceiling is even higher up, almost as a kind of alcove. In that imaginary line, I’ve placed my table. I face the two windows in my place, loving the light that comes in and the view of a green, green park across the street. This table is large enough for me to work from home, place all my random books and project-y things there, and, newly, my candles. I love the stillness that a simple candle invites.
This table, its placement and size, though, reaches its limit with guests. I am not able to accommodate much with this setup. I’m able to have a guest for dinner, but any more than that makes it something more impromptu, placing chairs “around” the area and having people lean in.
The Bed
This post isn’t sponsored, but the Purple Mattress is freaking incredible. It is the best. I wake up feeling stronger everyday because of that thing. Upgrading so heavily in the mattress department was a deliberate choice. That is to say, I made specific headspace to think of how important it is to be well-rested, to give myself a place that defeats the pressure of long, hard days.
The context to this is that I, a 6’2” (depending on the day) dude, made a twin mattress work all through undergrad and graduate school. In first moving out, I chose the cheapest mattress possible, still in the mindset of “make it work.”
Knowing that moving to DC would be heavy, in demanding but also wonderful ways, purchasing a top tier mattress was a symbolic change of pace in my life. At last, I was going to prioritize my own rest and invite deeper rest through physical respite. In a phase of life that requires me to constantly put myself out there, I was right to do so.
More soon,
Trevor