My left or the bed's left?

Fair point. I propose a change in nomenclature. Assuming the foot of the bed to be the prow, what I was calling the left side of the bed would be the starboard side. That should clear up the confusion.

I sleep better on top of the bed...keep fallin' off the sides

I'm a frequent faller which means I often wake up staring one of these in the face.

I think that the photo in the first post of this thread adequately defines left vs. right side of the bed. I'll pass on the nautical terminology, as I kept getting lost on the cruise ships.

mutt ain't theater

he means the audience view

Missed that, ta.

Emm is honing in on the theory that particularly interests me. I believe that the "handedness theory" is more complex and involves who is the most dominant person in the relationship, the person most needy to their handedness, or other factors that I haven't even thought of.

You people who are switching sides of the beds when in different beds, for no explainable reason, like caregiving, are freakin' me out. When I've gone camping with my best friend and I brought my super deluxe queen sized air mattress and he brought nothing, I agreed to share it with him. He passed out on my side of the bed, so I slept head to feet to maintain my preference.

My side

And I'll add this--and I'm not saying it to be pathetic, but because I find brains and their (mal)functions genuinely interesting--but my husband cannot, after 10 years of getting into a bed from the left side, get into a bed from the other side. This presented a challenge when we were still occasionally traveling. I'd choose a side for him based on bathroom access, then discover he could not get in. Instead he would try to climb in backwards, or lie across it perpendicularly. I've had to get him to sit, then physically pivot him, using his butt as fulcrum. So when--due to stair hazard--I moved him into a downstairs bedroom, I ended up having to move the bed. I left it in the same corner, but pivoted it perpendicularly so that he could get in.

Luckily, his bed at both his Ass't living residence and the hospital where he's currently on a long-term med adjustment are oriented the right way.

Hey, I know the feeling. When I had my heart surgery, I got trapped in bed (we had a waterbed). That morning was a panic to me and I was running out of time. My FIL has to install eye hooks into the ceiling beams above the bed. Then we installed ropes to help me pull myself out of bed. When I had my knee surgery the first time, there was only one way into bed and one way out. This time it wasn't so hard but to get into bed required a hop into bed (on my good leg) while my right leg was already in position for bed. Getting out of bed without putting weight on my kneecap is not a pretty sight. I don't think I could achieve getting in or out of bed from the other side.

I'm glad you have acces to assisted living because if this stuff would have gotten any more difficult than it already was, I would have sat down and cried.

It disturbs me that the right side of the bed is called the left side. I am challenged with what to call right and left already enough! When I lie in bed no doubt my right side will be closer to the right side of the bed, and not my left side (unless I lie on my tummy, which does not happen that often). Stretching out my right hand to the right will reach the bedside table on the right, no? The perspective of a peeping Tom hovering above the bed looking down disturbs me!

Anyway, to answer your question: I leave the choice of sides to my love, if she is here. Often she would be on my right side though (which you called left side), for unknown reasons. I suppose "Lady to the right" is the standard country dance position for couples, not that this has something to do with what happens in bed

Excellent. I knew there were other factors. Thanks.

In bed, the Lady is ALWAYS right.