Family Life

I had to get up early this morning. One of my customers was coming to see me and I wanted to get in to work early to make sure everything was ready. So I set my alarm for 6am and went to bed an hour or two earlier than normal. I needn’t have bothered.

I lay awake staring at the ceiling, stressed about how things are going at work. Debbie fed Micah. He fell asleep. She fell asleep. I stayed awake. I prayed. I fretted. Some time after 1am it started to lightning and thunder. I knew Joel wouldn’t like that, and sure enough, he started to whimper. I went in and held him and comforted him for a while. Then I brought him into our bed. Eventually the storm passed and I took Joel back to his own bed. I was still awake.

By now I was bored, too, so I sat at the foot of the bed and played Tetris in the dark. I even beat my high score. I noticed the air conditioner was making an unusual gurgling sound, so I had a close look (in the dark) and saw that the condensation tray was overflowing. I went downstairs, got my flashlight, said Hi to the cats, and went outside (in my pajamas, to Debbie’s eventual horror) to unblock the tray outlet. I watched the water pour out onto the ground until the gurgling stopped, and went back inside. Got a cloth, mopped up the drips on the floor, put away cloth and flashlight and went and lay down. Still wide awake.

A little while later I heard soft footsteps outside my door. I got up to find Daniel wandering around saying he was scared of the thunder. The storm had ended over an hour ago–talk about delayed reaction. I held him and comforted him anyway, and tucked him back in bed. I returned to bed, still awake.

I eventually went to sleep a few minutes before 4am.

The alarm went off faithfully at 6. I lay there trying to calculate when, theoretically, I could get up to get a full eight hours of sleep. It took me a while to figure this out, and I was somewhat mystified that such a simple thing would take so long. I eventually ended up with an answer of noon and decided that wasn’t feasible. So I got up.

There were expressions of Shock! Horror! from coworkers at my being there so early. Bunch of comedians. I got straight to work though, got everything done that I’d planned, and finished a few minutes before my customer arrived. He got a good demonstration, was pleased and impressed, we had a good lunch, and he left. An excellent morning. And thankfully I’d been wide awake for the duration.

The afternoon proceeded a little slower. Big lunch, hot weather, and sleep deprivation. My concentration wavered, to say the least. I still managed to get everything done, so it was a satisfactory afternoon. On the drive home I wondered how on earth I was going to stay awake long enough to play with the kids and then eat. To my relief I was more awake for the drive / play / meal than I’d expected.

Afterward I went ice skating with Daniel. Cold air, exercise (such as it was, at slower-than-walking pace), and the cheerful chatter of a small boy. A good ending to the day.

For some strange reason today had a good start, a good middle and a good end, despite the sleepless night. Thank you for your prayers. I don’t think I could have made it today without them.

Now I’m hoping the kids sleep in tomorrow (Saturday).

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 11:46 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated if this is your first time, otherwise they will appear immediately. I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.