Body Heat

Did you know that when King David was old, he was always cold, at night, in spite of his blankets, so they hired a young boy to sleep with him and keep him warm? It's in 1 Kings, no joke! And remember the passage in Ecclesiastes where it says that when two people lie down, together, they keep one another warm? I will never read those passages the same, again.
Until coming to Paraguay, I don't know that I really knew what it was like to be cold for extended periods of time. Our winters, here, are actually warmer than in Indiana, but nobody can afford central heat. The only places to escape the cold are under my electric blanket, in the shower, or under my hair drier (an ingenious discovery… my hair's been straight a LOT, this winterJ). At our GBU retreat, this weekend, though, I learned another trick; find a bedmate. I think I broke one of the 10 commandments, Friday night, by envying Liz and Lety, the sisters who shared their twin bed, below mine. The next morning, 16 year old Cecia confessed that she'd frozen through the night, and asked if she could sleep with me, Saturday. I didn't know that was allowed; I'd assumed only sisters with a special bond could get away with such close community (remember we were in twin bunk beds), but I gladly agreed, thankful for anything that would take off the chill. When it was time to get ready for bed, I realized that it wasn't just Cecia who had learned from the night before. All of the girls pushed their bunks side by side, and rearranged the blankets so that we could all bunker down, together! It was one of the funnier, more eye-opening experiences of my life. And we didn't just share the blankets, we shared one another's body heat- I'm talking 4 unit, platonic spooning chains! Judging from their naturalness, I was the only one to whom this was foreign. They'd all grown up sharing the family bed on cold nights. And you know what? It was kinda nice. First of all, it was really warm. Secondly, it was cool to see how they achieved the same results (getting warm) by relying on one another, that we do in North America, by using technology. Thirdly, I didn't feel alone