I'll tell you why!
First of all, it started with a certain 4 year old who needed to use the bathroom at midnight, right after I finished watching "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" on TV, and layed my head down on my pillow. On cue, I hear bare feet padding down the bunk bed ladder.
45 minutes later, plus 2 more bathroom trips, 6 times up and down the ladder, a few sips of water, 7 denied requests for chocolate milk, 3 monsters vanquished, 1 fan adjusted 2 times, and some stern words, he is asleep. Or so I thought.
I wait up for 10 minutes to make sure he is fast asleep. Satisfied, I climb back in bed, pull the covers up, set my alarm, and close my eyes. Immediately I hear the footsteps again.
"WHAT is it NOW?!?!?!?!"
"I just wanted to say sorry,"
*sniffles a few muffled sobs* (Not me, I don't cry until later in this story.)
*lots of hugs*
"Thank you for apologizing, honey. It's OK. I just want you to stay in bed so I can sleep."
"Oh, ok. Goodnight. Love you mommy. Sweet dreams mommy."
That was the last of it. My brain, though, had been tricked into thinking it was going to get to sleep one too many times. Not anymore! I have passed that point of being sleepy tired, and gone into the zone of insomnia. I am tired, yes, but my body has to torture me and make me stay awake until I am a walking zombie.
I got online, looked at some blogs, searched for some scrapbook inspiration, and edited some pictures. Somehow, I ended up on YouTube. I am going to embed the video that I saw here, because I will need to see this again. Some day I am going to be depressed or stressed, and if I can just pop over here and watch this, I'll be OK.
Once in a while, something strikes me so hard that I just crack. It doesn't necessarily have to be really funny- once it happened because I saw a dead deer on the side of the road. (Which usually makes my cry). I laugh so hard that I don't even know if I'm laughing or crying anymore. My eyes are blurry with tears. I snort, I squeak, I gasp, I choke, I hiss, I make the weirdest contorted faces. I literally can't breath sometimes, and I laugh without making a single sound, until my face turns blue, and I gulp in air like I had just been underwater for 20 minutes. It is uncontrollable, and at times extremely inappropriate. (Try church, during a long solemn prayer). I just can't help it. Rather embarrassing!
This video did that to me. I was worried I would wake the neighbors up. Seriously. Something is wrong with me. Doesn't it feel good to get all that emotion out, though? I'd rather have a laugh attack than a good cry (only because a good cry requires something bad to happen, usually, and I'd rather die laughing than find out my cat had been ran over), and I end up feeling equally better after each one.
Without further ado, the one that almost killed me:
Oooh...sounds tough! I'm pretty sure I did the same to my mom when I was little, though. =) Glad you let it all out! And thanks for stopping by and entering the monster contest, too! =) Happy day!
ReplyDeleteHi Melody,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog and commenting. Nice to meet you!
I've got 20 years on you and as of about 3 weeks ago, I am now empty nesting and trying to get used to my quiet and lonely house. Mine are 22 and 19. Time flies so fast -- it seems like just a short time ago they were wee ones. I do remember clearly how difficult it was to get them to bed though -- always the most frustrating time of day! My 22-year-old son, on top of the typical scenario you so vividly detailed, always bargained and begged to sleep with me. He was/is a cuddler. I remember the day clearly when he said, "You know, Mom, you should let me sleep with you, cause some day I'm not going to want to anymore." It wasn't long after that puberty arrived and he stopped asking. Strange how we miss the things that caused us so much frustration. Not that I didn't like cuddling with him -- I did give in sometimes -- but I just needed "my time" - especially since I was single parently since they were 3 and 6. In any case, you know this, but I'll say it anyway -- it goes super fast, like a blink, so cherish every moment, even when you're frustrated, tired, stressed, etc.
On another note, thanks for the chuckles. Hilarious! The poor woman!
- Theresa