Day Seven: Creating Home (Be Ready)

I know that there isn't a mom (or a dad)
out there, who would vote that the infant
and baby years are the best sleep years EVAH!
You know, the years when a parent feels at their
best and well rested!
Case in point, I met a man on an airplane last
weekend. Well, I was familiar with him the moment
the plane took off for flight. I kid you not,
the moment the pilot turned ON the fasten seat belt light,
this man was out! And I mean OUT! I kind of thought
he had flight anxiety and took a sedative pre-take off.
Honestly, that is how fast he fell asleep.

I teased him when we landed-
as quickly as he had fallen asleep-
he woke and was attentive and on the ball.
He said it drove his wife crazy how fast he could fall asleep
and wake up rested, because she is just the opposite.
"I think it is all those years raising babies, I just taught
myself to get a good rest whenever the opportunity presented itself!"

This made me laugh- but I realized a few years ago that the baby
years are not the WORST sleep years of parents!
I have six kids with a 12 year span from first to last.
When my oldest one turned 16, my youngest was 4. I thought I had
made it through the middle of the night wakings and had
finally graduated to getting a good 8 hours of sleep each night.

Oh Contraire, Mon Frere!
I found that my 16 year old, done with homework,
home from work, or home from a night with friends-
wanted to talk. At midnight, when his brain was fried,
or his heart was broken,
he was READY to talk. And it was up to me to be READY to listen.
So far, all three of my teens have followed this same practice.
There is something magical with my kids about the midnight hour-
they don't turn into vampires,
but they turn into TALKERS!

When my oldest son was in Middle School, he got home
an hour before the rest.
I quickly realized that this hour was his
Eruption Hour!
He would come home, and if I was READY
and Available for him,
I would hear about his day in full detail.
But if I was busy or unavailable,
I found that I ended up missing his daily erupt.
Kind of like Good Ole' Old Faithful,
it spews regularly,
but if you aren't there to see it,
you miss it entirely.
I quickly determined to be present when the
spew occurred.

You just never know when someone is going to want to open up
and share their feelings, thoughts or concerns.
But I believe, at least for my life it has been true,
that if you are not READY and willing when the fountain
of feelings starts spewing from someone you love,
it is possible that the fountain will dry up and
stop spewing at all!