Good evening, everyone.
Are you sleepy yet?
No?
It's still morning there? Well, that doesn't matter, does it? What matters is our topic at hand, sleeping.
Yes, sleeping, my favorite time of the day. There's nothing like a nice cozy bed to lay your tired self into after an exhausting day.
But why is sleeping my favorite rather than waking up? Isn't waking up the best since it's another chance for you to live your life? Well, here's what I have to say.
Long time ago when I was small, not very small, we had a lot of cats. Me and my siblings are softies to animals. We brought home abandoned kittens, fed stray adults that came across our house. We adopted them.
Our house was small, it could barely fit nine heads including my parents. We only had one room, and the special people who slept there were my mom and our youngest sibling.
The rest of us unfortunate ones get to sleep in the multipurpose part of the house. It was a receiving area, slash dining area, slash bedroom, slash play area too. Who says tiny houses were not a thing in the past?
We huddled together in a woven mat we called banig. The mat in which during my younger years I used to imagine as a magic carpet every slumber moments.
I used to imagine that we were flying on that mat. That I was the captain of it and was looking after my tired crew happily snoring away. We would go to a place, a magical place, a Neverland.
Then we would slay some aliens or dragons. I let my imagination run wild. In my younger years, bedtime was what I was looking forward to. It was the time of being me. The time to be awesome before sleep finally took over.
What about the cats?
Yes, the cats. We had five, or six, or maybe more at that time. They curled with us on the mat during bedtime. I especially liked it when one of them would sleep beside me.
If you are a cat person you would understand. The sound of their purr has a calming effect. It feels like I'm in the safest place in the world. That nothing matters, just that moment with you and your cat.
Another time in my past, I was in my twenties. I had a friend who became a sleepover buddy. Most of my visit to her place was a sleepover. Oh, how I miss it.
We talked nonstop. Any topic that has come to mind we got it covered. From the online game we played, to current events, to girly stuff. We had this bottomless pit of topics that kept us going until wee hours in the morning. We only stop when one of us drops from being too tired or too sleepy to say another word.
We usually wake up at midday. Too tired to do anything, we would just scavenge lunch from her refrigerator. Some days she had some home-cooked food prepared, some days we settled with something canned. Fun days. I wonder how she is doing right now.
Now this last one is my most favorite. It was the time when I finally realized that bedtime was indeed my favorite thing. It was when we had our child brought home.
My aunt-in-law said, Masarap matulog pag may katabing baby (It would be a good night sleep if you co-sleep with a baby). Man, my translation didn't even bring justice to what she said. But she was so damn right.
Being a first time parent at that time, I had a lot of doubts. I doubted my capacity of being a mother. I always question myself if I had fed my child enough, took care of her enough, given her the attention that she needs.
The anxiety took over me day by day, I just couldn't help it.
But when the lights were off, when my little one had drifted off to sleep by me swaying her and singing her a lullaby. I would put her down carefully in the middle of the bed. I would lay myself beside her and then hold her hand. From there, everything vanished.
It was as if nothing else in the world but us in our little room. My fears and worries disappeared in an instant. I couldn't explain it, but it was so calm. So calm that I did have a good night's sleep.
When our daughter turned one or so she loved to hear stories. We cuddled together and I told her made up stories until she fell asleep. Sometimes she would fall asleep while listening to me and my husband as we discuss things. Sometimes a lullaby would do the trick. Nothing really mattered in the world but the three of us in there.
That was when I can say that I am truly happy. That I thanked God for such wonderful experience He had given me. During bedtime, that was when I looked forward to the next bedtime.
How about you, do you have a bedtime story?
Would you like to share it?
Well, I'm off to sleep.
Good night.
Disclaimer: Images are from Unsplash
Thank you all for reading.
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I don't have bed time stories hehe. But I think you are a good parent :)