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I am very picky about my bed pillows.  They have to be just right and there is no in between.  It is either right or it isn’t.  Period.  No compromise.  Otherwise I wake up off and on all night, pounding, fluffing and poking the pillow.

Years ago – long before the dawn of time – my dad threw out two pillows.  They were very old; only dad knows how old they were.  I discovered them in the “to be trashed” pile and confiscated them.  They were the PERFECT pillows.  This was sometime in the 70’s and I loved those pillows.  They were some form of foam that wasn’t too hard or too soft.  They were perfect.

As time went by, I had to recover them a few times but I made sure no matter where I moved to, I had my perfect pillows.  They were the ONLY two I ever needed.  Put those other ones to the extra bedrooms, just don’t touch my perfect pillows.

So needless to say, my perfect pillows finally wore out – or should I say, crumbled and disintegrated.  Shoot, I’d say they were probably 25-30 years old by this time.  It was time for the ultimate new perfect pillow search.

Starting in the mid-1990’s, I began this perfect pillow search. I slept on some so-so ones while searching. I tried foam, foam balls, foam substitute, foam mock, faux foam, hard foam, soft foam, creepy foam - bleh. I tried stacking pillows on top of one another. I tried memory foam - too soft or too hard. I don’t know who’s memory they were trying to keep, but it sure wasn’t mine!

I tried down, down and feather, down alternative, double down, down and polyester combo, circle of down, and the down of doom. OK, maybe not that last one, but it began to seem that way. I would start out thinking, “This is a GREAT pillow” and within a month, the pillow would either be too hard or so soft it was like sleeping straight on the mattress.

It got so bad my husband began to notice there were pillows all over the place.  Oh, it wasn’t as bad as he let on, but there were several trial and error pillows for awhile there.  Every time a new pillow entered the house, I’d hear this groan and, “Just how many pillows are you going to buy?”

This is coming from a man who is still using one of the two pillows he brought into our marriage – and it was old and discolored way back then - 14 years ago.  What does he know about perfect pillows?

So here I am, sleeping on a down pillow that I have to crumple and fold to get just right.  It is aggravating because it isn’t a king sized pillow.  But I was going to put up with it.  I figured this was as good as it got.

Then it happened.  Last week, I wandered into a TJ Maxx store and saw this weird pillow, a gel fiber pillow.  Gel fibers?  Microdenier Gel Polyester Fiberfill.  I poked it and it felt like down yet fluffed right back up.  I looked around to see if anyone was looking and sort of tried to lay my head on it to test it - it felt pretty good.  Of course after all the pillows I’ve been through in the past 10 years or so, I wasn’t that optimistic.

I bought one and brought it home.  After a week, I knew!  THIS WAS IT.  I had finally found the perfect combination of soft, fluffy, and cushion.  I was in hog heaven (see Ramble on Chaise at www.joy-cafe.com in Archives to understand hog-heaven)!!  I was kicking myself for not buying the other two but there it is – if this pillow was awful, it would have been OK.  I did go back and pick up one more and discovered you can find gel fiber pillows at Amazon – if I get desperate in the future.

It’s been about a long hunt – but by golly, I found the perfect pillow.  Now begins the pillow exodus.  I’ve gotten rid of several pillows over the years but still have my expensive hold-outs.  I decided to make hubby happy and get rid of the excess.  I set aside 2-3 for Salvation Army and sent five of them over to my son’s girlfriend.  She’s on a hunt for the perfect pillow and can’t find one.  Hopefully one of these lovely down ones will work for her!  If not, there is one foam one that might work.  Otherwise, she’s on her own.  I found mine and I’m not sharing!!  It’s every woman for herself!

JOY is finally finding the perfect pillow, no matter how many years it takes.  I am joyful!!!