Send Me The Pillow That I Dream On
Monday, May 19, 2008 at 10:44PM 
Y'all won't believe what TG did when we checked out of the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta East yesterday morning (nice place, by the way).
He forgot my pillow.
I never travel without my pillow. It is a king-sized feather pillow that my mother-in-law gave me at least ten years ago. With another, ordinary, much flatter pillow placed beneath it, this pillow lets me sleep with my head at exactly the right angle to the rest of me ... i.e., not too high and not too low, but just right. You can punch and mash this pillow and it will stay where you put it. It has become necessary to any hope of my getting a decent night's rest (the likelihood of which decreases dramatically the farther I get from my own bed), and that's why wherever I go (overnight, that is ... I don't take my pillow to the grocery store or to work ... although a few times I have wished I had it at a deposition), it goes. The only time I leave it home is when I travel by airplane, which thankfully is not more than once every few years.
I was distracted when TG loaded up the trolley and of course I paid no attention as he put our stuff in the trunk of the car because I was busy getting my complimentary HGI coffee.
So it went to Atlanta on Saturday and it came up to our room. The king-sized beds in those Hilton Garden Inns are pretty spectacular though, and there are four big fluffy pillows supplied as well as a microsuede-covered bolster type pillow for supporting your neck as you read or watch TV. You can even adjust the firmness of those beds. I mean, they have thought of everything. As a result, I left my pillow on a chair in the corner and fell asleep without it.
I later regretted that decision when I woke up in the middle of the night with a slightly stiff neck (which was not what woke me ... that would be TG's feral snoring), but I was too lazy to get up and fetch my pillow off the chair. Sunday morning I lined up my luggage items at the end of the bed while TG went downstairs to get a trolley, and I plunked my pillow down on top of my bags. I was distracted when TG loaded up the trolley and of course I paid no attention as he put our stuff in the trunk of the car because I was busy getting my complimentary HGI coffee.
Last night around midnight, home again and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, I started looking for my pillow. I could not find it. I asked TG where it was. All he did was raise his eyebrows.
Not good.
You should have seen me trying to get comfortable on a regular-sized pillow that normally just sits in front of the decorative shams and makes my bed look all dressed. I tried it on top of my flat pillow. Too high. I took the flat pillow away. Too low. I punched and mashed but this pillow stubbornly returned each time to its perky, poufy wrongness. Luckily I was so tired that I went sound asleep and did not spend all night ruing the fact that my essential pillow was still out of town although I had come home.
The folks at the HGI were so nice when I called there this morning! After asking me all sorts of questions about my pillow and the design of its case (I don't guess they want to send me some other person's forgotten pillow), all I had to do was supply a credit card number and they promised to FedEx the pillow to me immediately.
Carelessness costs! I've tried to teach my children this. If I can't practice what I preach, at least I can be a good sermon illustration.
Got TG some breathe-right strips too ... they work pretty good. Instead of snoring like a freight train, last night he only attained the volume of a late entry in the soapbox derby.
Jennifer
My pillow arrived today ... it and I had a blissful reunion. Much hugging. *sigh*
Reader Comments (12)
Ah, poor you! As you probably know from reading The Depp Effect, I travel with my pillow too - and that includes transatlantic. I cannot sleep without my own pillow! I need an extra big suitcase to accommodate it, but if it doesn't come with me, I ain't going.
I hope you get your pillow back - and quickly! That would be a real nightmare to me.
Oh, and I solved the problem of OH snoring by using earplugs. Strips don't work for him. I love my earplugs!
LOL Jay! I can't believe you take your pillow with you on a plane!
I think I'd better get a pair of earplugs for each night of the week ... the strips help but not completely!
When I see my pillow again I'm going to hug it real tight!
Breathe-right strips helped save my marriage. LOL.
I'm glad you'll have your pillow back home soon.
I do!! It's a Mediflow water pillow and I empty out the water chamber and off we go - I'm still waiting to be accused of smuggling unknown substances inside the chamber and have it confiscated. If that happens, they'll see an instant meltdown, and it won't be pretty!
@ RJK ... yep! Got it and we are both so happy to be together again. The BR strips really do seem to be helping TG ... although it may be premature since I worked until 4:30 this morning and needless to say slept the sleep of the dead after that. I don't think I'll be sending him to the guest room anytime soon, though.
@Jay ... now THAT sounds like a really neat pillow ... very technosavvy and such. Mine is more traditional and too big to carry around an airport but since I avoid air travel, seems all I have to worry about is remembering to bring my pillow back home.
I wouldn't want to witness that meltdown either ...
Oh I'm so glad you got your pillow back! Wow they were speedy about it too :-) That's great news. It's good to see such good customer service in the hotel industry.
I left my snow boots in a hotel in WV on our way to NC this past Jan. Did not discover them missing until a week later when I was back in MI and couldn't find my boots. Started thinking, did I leave them in the hotel? I called, they had them, and they mailed them back to me the next day.
WOW! You are lucky they were so honest at the hotel in WV! They get lots of snow there, LOL! Can you imagine the stuff they see left in hotel rooms over the course of any given week? Glad to know I am not the only scatterbrain out there.
I once left my purse in a gas station bathroom when Stephanie was a baby. We were en route from Indiana to South Carolina, and this was long before the days of cell phones. When we went back through on our way home a few days later though, they still had it. TG was not real thrilled with me, however. Good thing I can blame the pillow fiasco on him! Blame is the name of the game.
And yeah ... the Hilton Garden Inn sent my pillow priority overnight even though I did not specify that ... hate to think what that cost me.
You must have been so traumatized! You and I are so much alike...everything you say reminds me of something! Years and years ago I left a blanket that was my mother's at a nice hotellish place in an eastern GA town...Savannah or Jekyll Island or somewhere like that. I had to have it back...sentimental reasons. They mailed it back to me free of charge! I couldn't believe it! I'm glad you were reunited with your bedmate. And that your other bedmate is a smidge quieter.
LOL! Yeah ... I like me bedmates just so ...
Oh, I'm so glad you had a happy pillow ending!
Jenny,
I suggest that you have a personalized pillow case with your contact info sewn inside. It could read something like this.
PLEASE return to ....and your info... that way if TG leaves it behind on your travels, someone would be able to get it to you. Kelly does beautiful monogramming. I will see what we can do for you.
Love all of your ramblings. Dixie
@ Keli ... thanks ... me too! What a relief. Life's difficult enough without your very own perfect pillow to plop down on at night.
@ Dixie ... now THAT is a good idea! I never would have thought of that! Is there nothing Kelly cannot do? She's a marvel. And I do ramble on, don't I?
I just remembered ... we were on our way to a football game at The Citadel ... and YOUR house ... that time I left my purse in the gas station bathroom! LOL!