The calm AFTER the storm

I am not a fan of wind. None whatsoever. I don't like the breeze, I really don't even like air conditioning! And the hurricane force gusts that we had last night were way too much for me. We could hear it howling from inside our warm house and I watched as the massive trees swayed back and forth as if they were tooth picks. Last year, I drove out of the driveway to find that one of our trees had fallen and hit the neighbors car. Luckily the damage was minimal. However, the fact that any one of our hundreds of trees could blow down with the wind is not lost on me.

In our house, the kids sleep upstairs and our room is on the first floor. With the wind blowing like we rarely see, Robbie and I decided that we would bring them down to our room for the night. That was the beginning of the end. Just as we had gotten them settled in our bed and ourselves settled back on the couch, something (a branch, most likely) blew across the roof. The kids started screaming and Robbie ran outside to check it out. When we were satisfied that it was not an entire tree and the kids were calm again, we once again tried for our relaxing evening. It was about that point that it became clear that was not meant to be. No sooner had we sat back down than the power flickered 3 times and then went out for good. The kids started screaming and at this point they had decided that they would not be stopping unless we stayed in the room.

Sooooooo, at 9:15 we headed for bed. Robbie was okay with it. He can sleep anytime, anywhere. I, on the other hand, am a night owl and as much as I love my kids I love them so much more when they are sleeping in their own beds. I figured that the kids were tired and would go to sleep if I ignored them and just read by flashlight. Wrong! Ben kept leaning over and "reading" with me by running his finger along the page. Abby wanted to hold my hand across the bed. Robbie was snoring. Finally, I gave up. I figured that once the light was off everyone would go to sleep. Wrong again. Ben kept trying to use my head as his pillow. Abby's arm was squished. Ben's knees dug into my back. Every time he moved he said, "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." Then Abby would ask "Why are you sorry, Ben?" And I would say, "Goodnight!" And then it would start all over. I think we all finally fell asleep.

At. 3:30 the power came back on and we all woke up to turn off the lights and then at 5:15 the phone rang to announce that school would be 2 hours late. At 5:45 I gave up my 6 square inches of bed and came out to sleep on the couch. By 6:30 we were all awake. It was not the type of night that I would choose to repeat.

Tonight, I am running on fumes (but still have report cards to work on) but I am so excited to get to bed. For a few reasons. Number 1, I am exhausted. Number 2, I get the bed to myself...and I plan to sleep in the middle. Number 3, Robbie washed the sheets today and I LOVE clean sheets. And number 4 is my brand new duvet cover! Our old cover was over 8 years old (it was a wedding gift) and had seen better days. For the past month (or more) I didn't dare move while I slept for fear of ripping it even more than it was. While I am sorry to say goodbye to this,





I know that tonight I will sleep MUCH better. Nighty night!