All Systems Go

Last night I had three glasses of tea.  This doesn't seem like a bad idea if you are under forty.  I am NOT under forty.  I found it difficult to fall asleep.  At 5:45 AM the phone rang.  Our window was open and the wind was blowing the sheers which put the sheers in the way of the phone.  My husband sleeps on the side with the phone and spent the entire ringing time fighting the sheers for the phone.  The phone call was the school calling to inform us of a two hour delay.

Now I don't know if you remember two hour delays when you were in school or not.  I can tell you that my children rejoice and I rejoice along with them.  I remember the days when I could just fall back to sleep and have two glorious hours more of rest.  Those days are now apparently behind me.

First I turned off everyone's alarm clocks and reset my oldest daughter's alarm as well as my own.  Then I thought I would get back into bed.  I did attempt it but that was when my bladder realized I had walked, so I went to use the restroom.  I crawled back into bed and tried to get comfortable.  I tried laying on my side.  I tried laying on the other side.  I tried laying on my back.  I couldn't get comfortable.  It was like the iced tea was back.  I kept thinking about those restless leg commercials and wondering if they have restless body meds.

My husband, God bless him, said "just roll over and I'll hold you so you can sleep."  This was not helpful.  It was now 6:00 AM and all of the systems were firing up.  My brain was arguing with every system yelling "No! False Alarm Go Back To Sleep!"  The bladder however said, "Remember the tea?"  And that was when I knew.  Everything else was going to wake up too.  Everything!  NO!  Not EVERYTHING!  Sleep!  I need sleep!

Everything woke up.  It was all systems go.  I went to the restroom and went back to bed.  I lay there praying that I would sleep.  I gave up at 7:30 and got ready for the day.  I even made my bed, loaded the dishwasher and started the laundry.  It didn't end there.  I made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.  It was like Christmas morning.  I never cook breakfast.  We have cereal, pop-tarts, bagels, bread for toast sometimes we even splurge on Eggos.  It is a dealers choice really.  Continental breakfast.  Help yourself.  Today however I had more time so I made breakfast.  (On a side note here:  Did you know you can buy hard boiled eggs at the grocery store?  Seriously?  I found them at the store in a bag already peeled and everything.  My mind is blown by this revelation.)

The rest of the day went by without much excitement.  I went to work, did all I could do, picked up the kids, went to piano lessons with two out of three children and came home.  I sliced two of my fingers open on an apple slicer (I am now no longer using anything Pampered Chef that is sharp enough to cause bodily harm) digging through a drawer to find a kitchen tool that has apparently ran away. 

I was sitting on the couch applying pressure to my wounds when the phone rang.  It was for Daphne, who by the way was not home because she was at her very first job interview.  It was a college admissions counselor who informed me that she had been accepted to their school.

My husband brought home pizza (What?  I was injured.).  My daughter was accepted to college, she will hear about the job later this week.  I actually cooked breakfast not at 10 AM on a Saturday.  It was a big day.  Last week my other daughter was informed that she was chosen to go to another honor band.  My son is reading Harry Potter.  I couldn't be prouder.

Apparently getting older means you can't drink iced tea in the evening and expect to fall asleep.  You also cannot let your feet touch the floor or it is all systems go.  I'm getting older, the children are getting older too.  It is an adjustment.  Beauty for ashes.  I can choose to dwell on the aches and pains and inconveniences of aging or I can look at all I accomplished because of the lack of sleep.  I can panic and worry and spend this year in fear of next year or I can savor every moment of this year and let next year worry about itself.  It is exciting, all of the changes.  I suppose with God's help we are all systems go and ready to see the year unfold.