Comforted

A couple of weeks ago I brought up our down comforter from storage in the basement. Because last winter was so unusually mild, we didn't even need the heavy-duty bedding, but this year I knew colder weather was on the way.

Then I got sick. Last Sunday night I got into bed and immediately started having chills. The comforter was leaning against a wall, waiting to be unpacked from its zipper bag. I got up, shivering, and quickly threw it on the bed. After I got back in bed and the warmth started slowly returning to my body, I realized that there is no warmth quite like the warmth one feels when nestled under a down comforter.

This one is around 20 years old. I distinctly remember buying it when I was still single, at the old Jordan Marsh store downtown. I'd been a fairly regular patron of their bedding department since realizing I needed to buy double-size sheets for the first time right after graduating from college.

Back in the early '90s, Jordan Marsh and its competitor Filene's ran their sale ads almost every day in the Boston Globe. Being underemployed and relatively poor, I would have been watching and waiting for a "white sale," and most likely purchased the comforter with money received for Christmas from my parents. I know it was around $70 at the time, which from this vantage point seems like a solid investment; nowadays I don't really know what one costs, but I do know that A Proper Bostonian recommends Cuddledown and The Company Store, and I also know courtesy of her that there's a Cuddledown outlet up in Freeport, Maine.