Your side of the bed

I have mentioned in past posts that my sister and I shared a bed (pictured here with my grand-daughters). As you can see it was a large bed for two little girls. It was my grandmother Drexler's bed, which we inherited. The whole "suite" is still beautiful and consists of the bed, a bureau with a beautiful beveled mirror surrounded with a carved wooden frame, a lady's writing desk, and a chair for the desk. There was also a mirror for above the writing desk which resides in my other daughter's home. The wood is curly maple.

I digress. Deb and I shared this bed for years (until I was 16). One of the things we liked to watch on TV when we were children was The Big Top which was a circus show, live from some place in South Jersey every Saturday afternoon. Ed McMahon -- a really young Ed McMahon -- was the ring-master. Anyway, we tried to mimic many of the acrobatic acts we saw on that program.

One "trick" we performed was that my sister would grab hold of the top of the headboard and I would lift her with my feet on her stomach so that she was above me (as I lay on my back) and then she would let go of the headboard and spread out her arms and be supported only by my feet. That was fun.

I also used that bed to learn how to do head and hand stands -- the headboard was a good brace as I was learning those tricks.

Of course, I related the story of her cleaning her side of the bed, and me NOT cleaning my side. But before we would go to sleep, I remember after prayer on our knees -- she on her side, me on mine -- we would say to each other: "Stay on your side of the bed." "Good night."