There were two queen sized beds in my parents’ room in our house in Binangonan. One had a thick mattress, while the other was a dark-green wrought iron canopy bed with suliya. My sister and I would sometimes sleep on the floor on a banig inside a kulambo, and sometimes on the bed with suliya.
I stayed at the house of Justice Benjing Capili while I was studying at UST, and my bed was made of wrought iron and metal springs.
When Edmund and I got married, a friend of my mom who owned a furniture store in Caloocan gifted us with a queen sized mattress and a bed box made of narra ply. This was where my daughter was manufactured.
After a few years, Edmund discovered that a rubber foam was much comfortable although a lot more expensive. When we moved to our new home, Edmund replaced the mattress with a rubber foam he bought from Caloocan. That was one of our major purchases.
Every time I visited my daughter when she was still working at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan, I stayed in the living room of her rented apartment on a sofa bed with kapok mattress. It was ultra comfortable.
The bed we sleep in at my sister’s house in Hayward is very high because of the two thick mattresses on top of each other. I almost fell off one time. With the window slightly opened to let the cold Pacific breeze in, my sleep was always comfortable.
The flickers from the tv woke me up yesterday morning at 4 am after sleeping from 6:30 pm. Edmund was watching tv but without a sound. I thought I was still in the Bay Area. I remained in bed but I placed a plump pillow on top of my stomach to shield my face from the TV’s glare.
Last night, I was about to go to bed when my son came in and told me there’s an extra masseuse supposed to be for his sister. Since she hasn’t come home yet, I willingly became her body double.
I had an hour and a half massage on our custom made massage bed I ordered 5 years ago from Pampanga. I was asleep the whole time. I just had to get up so I could get some money to pay her.
Tyler waited outside my son’s door while he’s getting a massage.
We finished at 12:03 am. I saw my daughter in her room, had some conversation with her and did some indoctrination with my son.
I think I went to bed at 3 am and woke up at exactly 8 am this morning as if on cue.
While I was stretching and ready to get-up, I suddenly felt nostalgic. Times have changed. Gone are the suliya and banig. There’s no more whispers of my parents in the middle of the night. No more kulambo and paypay. I felt the softness of my pillow, the texture of my warm blanket. My legs rubbed on the cotton bed sheet.
I took a deep breath. Grateful I have a comfortable bed, always.
