A Soft Spot for a Pillow

Rejuvenation. Couldn’t we all use a little rejuvenation? It is not a subject on which I have spent a great deal of time; but recent events prompt this report.

Walking home from downtown one recent, hot San Francisco afternoon this writer happened to pass a Sutter Street storefront window featuring a sign: Rejuvenation Pillow. Who could resist?  The sidewalk was steamy, a homeless gentleman was asleep in an adjacent shady doorway, guarded by a small shaggy dog; and the usual cacophony of impatient taxis, Muni buses and wailing ambulances prevailed. I stepped inside, and into – Peace. I mean, a huge, cool, quiet room full of beds tastefully made up with coverlet corners tastefully turned back. I spotted a water jug on a shelf near the desk in back. Cool water! There was no one in the sales room at the time other than one serene young woman at the desk.

“Ummm,” I said into the tranquil air, “I’m wondering about the Rejuvenation Pillow.”

(Pillows are a widespread concern these days. The MyPillow people would have you believe their pillow is the answer to  prayer, which may or may not be the case, I haven’t tried it. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Nick Hoppe recently devoted an entire column to his pillow struggles – but then, who am I to snipe at pillow columns?)

“Certainly,” said a serene voice. “I’ll be happy to show you one.” Whereupon she produced a pillow and invited me to rest my head upon it. Bliss. Admittedly it was a hot day and I’d been walking a lot of uphill blocks and the place was cool and quiet; still, the pillow had to speak rejuvenation for itself. What follows is an unsolicited, unpaid paean to my new pillow.

The Rejuvenation Pillow is a product of New Mexico-based Sachi Organics, which gets ingredients from South Dakota, North Carolina and Texas to create the all-organic pillows shipped to California – good ol’ Made in USA. What enables it to rejuvenate is a filling of all-organic buckwheat hulls or millet hulls, encased in all-premium eco wool and covered in organic cotton sateen. What’s not to love about all this ecological refinement?

I chose the millet, partly because the serene saleslady said the buckwheat made a slightly rustling sound. The millet hulls are supremely silent. What they quietly do, within their eco wool-encased dual chamber design, is squish themselves around in the manner of your choosing, as if some drifting cloud paused to cushion your weary head. If you choose to shift or move a little, your agreeable pillow squishily moves as appropriate. After a few weeks of this, I am unabashedly in love with my pillow. Rejuvenated, you might say.

While there are possibly more important issues confronting mankind these days, most of them seem surrounded by bad news. Rejuvenation pillows? Nothing but good news. You’re welcome.