Realities of the Bedtime Hour


After a friendly game of Kings in the Corner, (which I have to tell you we play according to our own rules) around about eleven o'clock, we stack up the cards and go leisurely about the business of retiring for the night.

Husband turns on his computer and brings up the National Post News which he reads with only the occasional comment, but it is bound to be a pithy one with biting overtones.

I turn on the kitchen light, and at that moment the cat and the dog come instantly awake. Treat time!!! Treat time!!! Treat time happens after all the going to bed chores are accomplished, and it enables me to get down the hall and into the bedroom while the cat is still busy, daintily picking at her small biccies. Otherwise she passes me on my way, in lightening fashion, and bounds from the doorway, up on to the bed, under a pillow or down between the sheets.

Requires fast work on the part of an old lady! At this ancient age I have learned to hustle!

Once the bedroom is mine alone, mine alone, I do the ablutions, brush the hair and climb into bed with my bedside book. The time it takes me to fall asleep is not in direct relation to the interest I have in the book, but in the time it takes my eyes to unfocus and the lines of print to blur into each other. Then the eyes close, the book slips down, and when Husband arrives a short time later, (having finished his analysis of the news, made appropriate comment on said analysis, and played a number of games of Free Cell) he removes the book, turns off the light, settles himself for the night, and all is quiet!!

It was not always this way......


When we were young and full of vigour, and life was bounding in endless chores, endless projects and eternal plans, the nightime chores were more numerous. Bedtime was different in many happy ways, but the final descent into sleep was preceded by a litany of thanks for what the day had brought in the way of blessings and eager plans for the following day. With six children, a farm, ties to a myriad of organizations and our fingers into many delicious and varied pies, life seemed to be lived on a continual high.

Now we have mellowed out, - the days blend into each other. My plans are for a week, - not a day - (it takes me a week to accomplish what once I did in a day, alas). All that remains the same is the silent litany of thanks for the chance to live life just exactly as we have, with no regrets.



This week-end we celebrated 62 years of marriage, Husband and I.














Enduring Devotion!! --- Devoted Endurance!!




















What a wonderful mixed bag of tricks it has been!!!