Princess, Peasant or Pain in the Arse?
Photo credit: elizabeth lies
Reading time: 2 minutes
Oh, the joy of getting things just right!
The ideal temperature and fan positioning inside your Subaru.
The face serum with a hyaluronic acid percentage suited to your skin.
The protein powder blended for optimal absorption and pleasing flavor.
The just-right playlist for your at-home Pilates workout.
As a highly sensitive person, I can tell you that having to get things “just right” is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I’m clear on my preferences. A curse because of the reactions I get.
I know I risk offending you with TMI when I tell you I’m always hearing things like this:
Why must you have ice in your NA beer?
What’s so off-putting about a scrambled egg with the whites showing?
Can you please stop fidgeting with the lighting and the lap throw and the placement of that lumbar cushion and just start Ep 3 of White House Plumbers already?
Maybe I’m a real pain in the you know what. Or maybe I’m simply a princess!? As in the story of The Princess and the Pea.
According to Wikipedia, “The story tells of a prince who wants to marry a princess but is having difficulty finding a suitable wife. He meets many princesses, but is never sure that they are real princesses. One stormy night, a young woman drenched with rain seeks shelter in the prince's castle. She claims to be a princess, but the queen has doubts. She decides to test their unexpected guest by placing a pea in the bed she is offered for the night, covered by twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. In the morning, the princess tells her hosts that she endured a sleepless night, kept awake by something hard in the bed that she is certain has bruised her. The prince's family realizes that she is a princess after all, since no one but a real princess could be so delicate. The two are happily married, and the story ends with the pea being placed in a museum, where it might still be today.”
I’m not saying that a pea would keep me awake at night, but a wrinkle in the fitted sheet might. Or incorrect alignment of the upper edge of the topsheet and the coverlet. Or a duvet with filling that has sunk to one end or the other. Or my companion untucking the covers from my corner of the bed. Or a polyester blend pillowcase. Or flannel sheets. Or someone stealing my favorite pillow. Or a new nightgown with an irritating tag. Or a too soft mattress. Or a shut window or a window wide open or an overhead fan or the heat kicking on or street light leaking in around the edges of a shade.
If everything on and around my bed is just right, then I sleep like a peasant. Otherwise, I’m bonafide royalty and heads are gonna roll in the morning!
Author and RealEstateTherapy curator Cynthia Cummins has been devoted to homeowners and homebuyers for three decades and counting. Visit KindredSFhomes.com for more information on San Francisco real estate.
