Sleeping together

One of the things I'm still trying to get used to is sharing the bed with someone. As the only daughter, I had the privilege of having my own room so even sharing space is not something I am used to.

The first thing I (consciously or otherwise) did upon moving in was to delegate space - I sleep on the left, him on the right and I get slightly edgy when he crosses the boundary slightly by placing his things on my side of the bed and so on. But with time, I've learnt to relax a little because at the end of the day, there's no point kicking up a fuss and wasting energy when I can just quietly put back the item on his side.

It's not that I'm secretive about my things but I just like my things in their place so I know where to find them when I want them.

Then comes the sleeping part. It took me a few sleepless nights and learning to sleep facing away from each other to finally get a good night's sleep.

1) Intermittent snoring.
I'm ok with snores. My dad used to snore so loud we could hear him cross the hallway. But at least it was a rhythmic kinda snore so after awhile you get lulled. But omg Frenchy has intermittent snores that can be so quiet for a whole hour and then sounds like a crack in the air. Well, I'm one to complain. I've been told that I snore too when I'm tired or having a blocked nose in an airconditioned room. Heh.

2) Twists and turns.
I've never shared a bed with anybody so I'm not conscious of my sudden movements made during sleep. I know for one that I'm guilty for bouncing on the bed when I turn from one side to the other. Frenchy does it too and he shakes uncontrollably in the middle of the night like he's fighting minions in his sleep (which is actually really cute) but it wakes me up a lot.


3) Breathing
Breath-on-skin sounds sexy but not when you're half asleep and thinking there's a fly on your back needing to be slapped. Usually this happens in a spooning position. Otherwise, when you're both not asleep yet but trying to, there's always that problem of synchronising your breathing. Or am I the only one thinking about it?

4) Cramped arms/legs/body
And no, not from vigorous bedtime aerobics. It happens when you try to sleep holding each other - say like in a spoon position. Then there's that weird arm that doesn't know what to do. So sometimes you squash it below your body, sometimes you're superman with that arm outstretched, reaching for the sky.

5) One waking up before the other.
Nooooooooooooooooooooo. I hate it when he goes to work because I cannot help but open my eye and watch him walk up and down the room, choosing his clothes (and then silently chastising him for not ironing his shirt again and then reminding myself mentally to iron some for him) and wait for him to say goodbye to me before going back to bed. Unfortunately, he isn't so lucky. When I wake up, generally it also means it's time for him to wake up so I wake him up by making annoying noises and poking at him until he's conscious. :P

6) Farting in your sleep
Do I even need to say more?

But then again, sleeping together, just like living together takes a lot of getting used to and learning about each other's patterns. Yes, you eventually learn to forgive each others' farts and simply just turn to face the other side to get some space (and fresh air). But I think one of the most important things about this whole sleeping together thing is the idea that you know you are comfortable enough with your partner to go to sleep with that terrible pimple cream on your face (rather than hidden by concealer), going braless (and knowing your boobies are going southwards) and most important of all, knowing he or she forgives you for your farts and snores.