Why do we keep things? To remember. Bedside tables are our modern-day altars, places where habit, respect, mystery, and love collide. Our physical materials wait while we travel through dreams, coaxing us back into activity come morning. Books and remote controls summon sleep, alarm clocks and written reminders startle the mind into a wakeful state. But not all objects are directly linked to sleeping or waking; some things simply exist to comfort us, reflecting our need to gather, collect, and nest.