Brey Willows

Card 28, Writing Down the Bones: Map your bedroom in words.

The back of the card, as always, extends the idea into mapping anything at all–your emotional topography, your family, etc. To think of the word map, and all it implies, and use that. I’m going to park my crazy in a box for a little while and concentrate on less emotional stuff, so you can keep reading without putting any armour on.

So. Our bedroom.

It’s a good size. As you enter, you immediately see the bed. It’s a big ‘un. A king that takes up lots of floorspace. What you also might notice is the unusual headboard. Wood and metal, it’s a piece of art that my wife crafted for us. She built it herself, and it’s still the most perfect thing in the house. (Other than her, obviously.)

The long window on the right looks out at tall trees, which right now are barren, skeletal winter figures that do little to hide us from the passengers who can peep in as they drive by on the busy road beyond.

But back to the room itself.

On the left wall are three full size dressers. We share them, and they too are decorated with varying slats of colour thanks to my wife, which makes them far more interesting to look at. They’re topped with photos, jewellery boxes, and folded clothes that haven’t yet been put away. I’ll just end up wearing them again before that happens, I think.

Turn around to leave and you’re met with a beautiful TV unit. The TV, wall mounted to take up less space, is framed by heavy wood that connects to the drawers below, mostly full of bedding. This, too, was built by my wife and matches the headboard. Atop it are three resin figures covered in lettering, in different poses, all reading a book.

And the side tables, too. She built those so they’d fit perfectly beside us. Mine are messy. Hers are not. Above my side table is a wall mounted jewellery box. She made that too, and she likes to add lovely things to fill it.

There’s also a larger box, wall mounted, which she made. But we won’t talk about the contents of that…

Our bedroom is a map of us and who we are. It’s our most private space, our sanctuary. Our place of quiet and long talks. Our place of intimacy and reconnection. If you marked it on a map, it would simply say:

Home.