http://www.thefamilyfunfinder.com/forum/13
(which for some reason isn't popping up as a link. You can copy and paste it into your browser.)
A lot of those posts are the same as the ones I write for my Thackering blog. But some of them are different. I only mention this because often I save my best stories for The Family Fun Finder and write up the stories in more detail (it is supposed to be professional, after all). Would you guys like me to post them here as well?
For instance, my last entry was pretty typical. It's called It's 3:30 a.m. and it goes like this:
I was at my parents' house with my three children. Even though I loved it there, I was still lonely without my husband around. I found myself reverting back to my forgotten night-owl ways, typing on the computer until midnight, just to delay going to bed alone.
Midnight is when I called it quits, though. I knew that morning would come soon enough and then I'd have to be a mother again. So I finally fell asleep that particular night around 12:30 a.m.
This is only especially important to know because at 3:30 a.m., when I distantly heard little feet in the hallway and then felt someone sit down on my bed, I was definitely NOT awake. I groggily opened my eyes just long enough to see that it was my 5-year-old son, Elijah. "Mom, I can't sleep," he said.
You should also know that normally middle-of-the-night adventures are my husband's job. If we had been at home, Elijah would know to go to Rob's side of the bed, not mine. I am less than sympathetic between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m.
So my response to Elijah that night was a typical one. I didn't hide my annoyance as I said, "Elijah, you need to go back to bed." Then I rolled over, and I may or may not have fallen back asleep.
Some time later Elijah said, "But I can't sleep." I realized I had no idea how much time had passed. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds. I groaned anyway.
I thought, in my mind, of the suggestions I could make. But in my sleepy state, none of those options were acceptable. Does he need a drink of water? No, that takes too much effort for me. Should I tuck him back in bed? Ugh, then I'd have to get up. No. Elijah should just go get back in bed. And that's what I told him.
Again I slipped back into some sort of existence between waking and sleeping. But I knew that Elijah was still on the edge of my bed. I felt myself becoming irrationally angry. As a fully-awake person writing this post, I can recognize that this whole situation was ridiculous. I should have just willed myself out of my bed and tucked the poor kid back into his. But Tamra at 3:30 a.m. is something of a monster, and there was no bit of niceness to be found.
And then something happened. Elijah, in his sweet, innocent way, said, "I know. I can bet I need a song."
Angry, irrational Tamra evaporated instantly, and Tamra the Mother woke up, as if for the first time. "Oh," I said to Elijah. "I can do that."
I led him by the hand to his bed and tucked him in. Then I sat on the edge of his bed and stroked his hair while I sang his favorite song, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." I got done and in the dim light I saw Elijah smile. "Thanks, Mom," he said.
I walked back to my bed thinking about how precious children are. Even, sometimes, at 3:30 in the morning.
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