Sometimes the perfect way to learn is to observe and then practice with direct guidance from the one we have observed.
It’s about missing out on pillow talk, or just having the warmth of their spouse, or being comforted by hearing them breath in middle of the night. Sex, in reality, only takes up a small portion of time in bed . . . . Pillow talk is when we get some of our life planning done, or just talk about the day.
GREAT points,
@WifeOfHisYouth! I chuckled when noticing that the assumption was made that what I was referring to in my earlier comment was limited to sexuality. After all, the title of this thread is, "
Sleeping Arrangements." I love that you brought the focus to the stability and security that one can feel after having grown together sleeping together night after night for years (and that dynamic is not limited to how the
women feel). Pillow talk -- which, yes, can take place on the sofa, in the kitchen or on car rides (and one very wise Biblical Family man recently described in person how, as a long-distance trucker, he accomplishes this with morning on-the-road telephone appointments) -- has its own special quality in bed and is a (generally) essential component of marriage.
So much of this comes down to the particular 3-person (or 4-person, etc.) set of dynamics that results from adding someone to the plural relationship. I see our answers here to be highly individualistic, and those of us who are currently in 2-person marriages can have our
fantasies about how everything will play out in bed, on the sofa, in the kitchen or out in the garden -- but when it comes down to it, adding a real-life new human being to the mix has the potential to change almost
anything. Anything, other than principles to which we are deeply wedded, and if one piles up too many of
those in advance, how does one hope to absorb anyone other than an automaton into one's family? This may just be me, but I go into this
assuming that I can't really assume much of anything as far as how everything will go once another woman (not to mention potential children) becomes part of our family. First of all, it only makes sense to be prepared to take some of
her (at this point, unknown) preferences into account in the process of everyone assimilating each other. Second, I believe it's impossible to predict how
her (again, at this point, unknown) preferences are going to effectively change
Kristin or change
me.
I have my vision, and I look into my future intending to live into it, but I don't consider it unmanly on my part to be absolutely ready to compromise on many minor and moderate points if a woman who fits most of the major ones falls in love with me and is game for a rewarding but challenging relationship structure. In fact, I look forward to the adventure of discovery that such compromise will entail.
And I suppose that all I ask for when it comes to sleeping arrangements is that they won't be exactly the same every night for the rest of our lives . . .