At Brian’s House

Hello,

We arrived in good time Sunday evening. Time enough to get updates and hugs from the children, but no time to take the dog for a walk even though she clearly thought it might be an option. Leroy slept in Logan’s room because according to Sophia, “He snores too much.”

I said, “He doesn’t snore much.” To which Sophia just laughed.

I climbed up to the top bunk in Sophia’s room because she has casts on her legs so she cannot easily navigate the ladder. I had brought the traveling alarm clock, but could not find it in the dark after Sophia was asleep. For some reason my neck was hurting so I woke up every time I wanted to move my body. Then at about 4 in the morning I heard an intermittent beeping sound. I lay still for a while trying to identify the source. It did not sound like either of our phones. Finally I slung a leg over the edge and sought the top rung of the ladder. The beeping continued, but I was unsure of the source. It did not help that I had not put on my glasses. The sound was not too loud, so now that I knew there was not some easy fix I climbed hopefully back to bed. Hope dissolved about half an hour later as the sound continued to infiltrate my mind. This time I put on my glasses and grabbed the flashlight before I climbed out of bed. Well armed, I found the culprit, a smoke/carbon monoxide alarm in the mudroom. It was too high for me to reach so I just closed the door hoping that would muffle the beep enough to allow me to go back to sleep. Some time later I heard someone, Brian, come downstairs. After that I did not hear that beep. At 6:30 that alarm started to wake me up. Sophia sat up and said, “What is that?”

Again I scrambled down the ladder and searched my suitcase where the sound quickly alerted me to its location. Then I lay down on Sophia’s bed and we had a little morning chat. I felt as if the day was half gone.

Sometimes I think life has not a dull moment. Just what is a dull moment anyway?

I gave Logan his birthday presents. One was a large deck of cards that especially seemed to please him. We immediately played “Go Fish”. I think it was nice to get some presents on a different day. It is hard to appreciate several things all at once. This allowed some savoring of the new.

Paula