I don’t know how to tell you this….but I wake at 3:30am. Each day.
I know. It’s a blessing and a curse.
I wake that early to go to the gym. I’ve heard Mark Wahlberg also gets up that early to work out, to which I say, yes, I am exactly like Marky Mark.
Because I get up this early, I go to bed early. Around 7pm, I start brushing my teeth and doing all the little things in my nightly routine. Each family has someone who performs a certain task to close up shop for the day. Mine is turning on the dishwasher and turning down the thermostat. My husband checks all the doors to make sure they are locked and turns on the alarm. My youngest resets the front room, folding blankets and gathering water glasses. My oldest tosses out the used coffee pods from the Nespresso machine. Like I said, we all have our jobs.
I settle into bed around 7:15-7:20pm snuggled with a book (my latest is Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead) or a few minutes of a movie on my phone (current obsession Yasujiro Ozu films)
Of course, the rest of my family goes to bed at a “normal” time. So for the next 15 minutes each of them, both of my teenage sons and my husband, come up to tuck me in.
My youngest, who is 13, usually comes up first. He likes to lay a top the blankets on my husband’s side of the bed and tell me one last story for the day. He makes sure my closet doors are closed to keep the room warm and plugs in my mobile phone to charge for the night. My 14 year old comes in next. He makes sure my water bottle is full and gives me a hug and kiss on the cheek. Then my husband comes up. He smothers me with hugs and kisses and hands me my eye mask (yes, I sleep with an eye mask) and closes the door to my room.
I am completely asleep by 8pm but often earlier than this. They all stay up for a few more hours, male bonding while watching Critical Drinker movie reviews or another John Wick movie.
How did this turnabout happen? It wasn’t too long ago I was spending 30 minutes each night tucking these boys in. There was Big Red Barn and Good Night Moon, then Caps for Sale and Corduroy. Then we moved on to chapter books. I remember the boys cheering when Charlie found a golden ticket and my oldest sobbing at the end of Little House on the Prairie when they had to leave their little home. “It’s just sad all the way around. For the Ingalls and for the Indians. Everything is sad!” I sang songs to put them to sleep. These same songs they still ask for if they are sick or sad.
And last year, when my husband detached his quad muscle, leaving him immobile for months, I tucked him into a bed we set up doorstairs for months, making sure all he needed was within arms reach before I climbed up the stairs to our bed alone.
Life is funny this way. The different stages of our life. Sometimes we think they will last forever, not seeing how sweet or precious this is---now.
At night I roll on my side and pull down my eye mask. I fall asleep within ten seconds knowing I am rich and safe.
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I just love that they tuck you in! I’m always the last person awake at my house because that’s when I’m able to get stuff done.
Reading of your husband's separate quad and immobility lifted me out of an encroaching pity party. Two wrecked knees have me housebound until they're fixed. Today the Eucharist will be brought to me, I will do some writing about changes and slowing down, and do some edifying (my friend, Kirth's favorite word) reading. God bless you and yours.