Clean bed linen and safe people

One of the most comforting and snuggle-inducing memories of my childhood are the evenings when the bed linen had just been changed and I could crawl in bed and just draw deep breaths smelling the crispness and cleanness of my sheets. Especially if it was early autumn, and they had dried outside in the wind, smelling of sunshine and of coming autumn... mmh!

I think that the people I instantly feel close to have something similar about them. They have been through various cycles of life, involving a lot of cleansing and tumbling and shaking and drying, but the outcome is that the dirt is out, they smell nice, and even when you snuggle close, they are still safe and clean.

With people, though, the definition of clean doesn't mean someone who has never had any dirt in their lives, that would exclude all of us. I think the safe-and-clean category is made of people who don't cling to their dirt, who are open and willing to be clean (and cleansed) and who are mindful of what makes relationships safe: trust, respect, kindness, acceptance...

I want excitement and adventures probably more than most people, but that's just outer stuff. I like reckless (within limits :) BUT the people I want closest in my life are like the bed linen of my childhood. They are safe to be with!

The other thing I associate that snuggly feeling with is flannel, the kind of flannel the shirts my Dad used to wear were made of. It is unbeatable!, and so for years I had the best of both worlds: flannel bed linen :) It is the absolute tops on cold winter nights... I wonder what the equivalent in people would look like... ;)