Things That Go Bump In The Night

I’ve always been a pretty light sleeper. At University, that came in handy as a monitor in an all girls residence. We had a “no guys overnight during weeknights” policy and I could usually hear attempts to sneak them in. It also made falling asleep during weekends a bit hard since the music could blare until 2 am.

Bethany and Erin are both capable of yelling, screaming or speaking in full sentences while deeply asleep... any one of which usually sends me flying from bed on a Mom’s adrenaline rush to see if they are OK. Often, they don’t even wake up... but I head back to bed with my heart pounding.

Bethany, at four, seems more prone to bad dreams and even night terrors, many of which occur between 3 and 5 am. The closer to 5 am they fall, the harder it is to get back to sleep before our alarm goes off at 6:15. It is both heart wrenching and incredibly annoying. As a parent, I hate to think of my children feeling scared by their dreams. I still hate nightmares myself because they can seem so real and I also cherish the regular dreams I have. As an adult who often pulls nights on the computer until midnight, I sometimes resent having the sleep I do get interrupted... especially when getting back to sleep is tricky.

In those wee hours of the morning, I often find myself thinking of new designs or stories. At first, I would try to hold onto them until morning... but after a few frustrating times of not being able to remember a really good verse that I had worked out, I started to keep a little black sketchbook and pen near my bedside table so that I could capture enough of the idea or words to keep until morning.

I scribble stuff down in the dark, so as not to wake Nick, and sometimes the results are pretty hilarious to look at in the light of day, but the basis for what I need is there, captured on paper. Nick has teased me before that it is a bit like living with a gerbil. He sometimes hears this little “scritch, scritch” noise in the dark (anyone who has ever heard a gerbil gnaw a toilet paper tube at night will know what he means) which he has learned to just ignore and go back to sleep!

The saying “things that go bump in the night” always makes me smile... because usually, that refers to ME!