Nov. 23rd - I am thankful for my "extra" hour.
I am not a morning person. Never have been, never will be. I am very good at faking it, however.
For the last ten years, since I’ve become a mom, I have grown accustomed to getting by on very little sleep. I think it’s something that naturally happens once you hold the “mom” title. Let’s face it, when you have children most of your hours are not “your” hours. They are other people’s. Other little people’s.
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First it’s the getting up every 2-3 hours for baby’s feeding, then it’s staying up late with a sick toddler, then a child’s early rising. There never seems to 6 consecutive hours when your body is at rest, let alone 8. According to the National Sleep Foundation, healthy adults have a basal sleep need- the amount of sleep our bodies need on a regular basis for optimal performance – of seven to eight hours every night.
Well that is definitely not happening in my life. At least not on a regular basis. I usually end my day around midnight or 1:00am. I have tried going to sleep earlier. But the reality is there is sooooo much to get done before sleep, seriously how would that happen?
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After the girls are in bed, that’s when I begin ... the straightening up of the dining room and kitchen (cannot bear to wake up with a messy kitchen), making of the girls lunch for tomorrow, answering emails, checking Facebook, organizing projects, writing teacher notes, etc. All this takes time. How could I go to sleep? I have a feeling I am not alone.
My early mornings are very much the same. Run and splash water on my face, get the girls moving, breakfast, shower, dress, cleanup, hair, all before they are out the door for school.
I sometimes dream of having 6-8 extra awake hours just to myself. How extravagant and how fun it would be to use them? Wondering what I would even do with them?
Maybe I could edit that long lost book I’ve been trying to rewrite; or actually begin and finish a book? How about take a bath or better yet, take a bath while reading the book (what? Who does that? ) What about a curling up with a good book or a Lifetime Marathon? As the days become shorter and the months go by quicker, my hours fade and I realize I need more sleep. I am seriously falling asleep while typing.
However on the weekends, I try to find one hour of quiet, one hour just for me. Not 6 hours or 8 hours or even 2 but just one. The girls might be playing downstairs, or off to a practice and I will find that I have an hour or so free…! And then I usually do what I always do… I clean, I organize, I begin doing the mom stuff.
Wait stop! I say to myself! Look there are no little people around, no one asking for anything. So I grab my kindle, and I read. I have clothes which need to be folded. But I read. Seriously clothes are on my bed, waiting to be folded, but I read. Or I do the other crazy thing… I put on Lifetime. (Shhhhh... don’t need to be announcing that.)
Yes, for one glorious hour it’s mine. Whatever it is, it is MY hour. How grateful I am…
