Testimony: “It is one of the rare places that is personal to me.”

Virginie, 40, married, three children.

“In our previous apartment – a loft – our bed was in the living room; I had no bedside table. For me, this meant a lack of intimacy and space. In our current bedroom, my husband, who sleeps next to the wall, and works staggered hours, has no bedside table. I do! Thus, the alarm clock is on my side. I protect him from early morning bells and from assaults by the children!

My bedside is not very beautiful (the one of my dreams would be sculpted from a tree from my parents’ garden), but it is precious to me. During a difficult time, marked by the death of my mother and the lengthy hospitalisation of one of my daughters, this bedside was my ‘companion’. On it, I have the DVD that I tend to watch alone in the evening.

This is the space in which I can release tension. I keep a candle, and my address book so I can send emails from bed. It also houses my favourite books that I introduced to a neighbourhood readers’ club; such as, The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing by Darina Al Joundi. The book is about Lebanon; a country that has a particular link with me, as my husband has Lebanese origins. I like having memories close to me, recalling my close relationships: drawings and photos of my daughters, comforting words, the Missal of my mother when she was a child, a Kitsch Virgin of Lourdes, a lead miniature depicting a married couple gifted by my mother before my wedding.  I also store my accessory prototypes and vintage jewels inherited from my mother, or brought back from my travels.”

Psychotherapist’s opinion:

Virginie expresses how much her bedside table and the contents ‘fix’ the lack of intimacy of her previous place and of the pains of her life. The title of the book she quotes makes a symbolic link between the death of her mother and her husband’s origins. This small space enables her to pause for a moment and recharge her batteries, like the small altars in Buddhist houses. These objects are symbols of protection and could be a way to end the mourning of her mother. They create a story, as in children’s books. The objects gathered by Virginie play the same role.

Isabelle Soing

Read more in our Bedside table series:

Testimony: “I have two bedside tables; they express my two facets.”
Testimony: “It is a gift from my father”
Testimony: “It is invaded by novels that make me laugh.”
Is the bedside table a reflection of your lives?