I'm punchy this morning. lol The headline sounds like a Geraldo Rivera show. I have had maybe three hours of sleep. I was up almost all night comforting my tween. She came in my room, broke my sleep by turning on the light, and slowly walked up my stairs. My baby looked under my bed, around corners and turned on another light before she would turn off the other. Then she quickly ran across the room, turned on another light, looked under the bed and eventually got in my bed once she slowly pulled back the covers.
I asked her what was wrong. She put my arms around her and started sobbing. "I was making sure 'the dummy' wasn't here." Her response got me totally awake. I hugged her and asked "the dummy?" With her back still to me, she confessed to watching a Twilight Zone episode called "The Dummy." It's one of my favorites.
I warned her NOT to watch it. As a child, I remember how scary that show and Dark Shadows were to me. The theme music did me in. I had to take a nap during Dark Shadows. Didn't want anything to do with vampire Barnabus Collins. And don't even get me started on Rod Sterling's scary voice.
I truly didn't appreciate the clever writing and plot twists of The Twilight Zone until I was much older and plotting and working as a writer. Discovered so much good work by future stars such as Burgess Meredith, William Shatner, and Joan Collins.
Rather than scold my baby, I held her tightly reassuring her, that it was make-believe and I was here to protect her. She doubted me, but responded to my strong arms and reassuring hugs. Sobs ceased. The shaking stopped. By 5:45 a.m., she was asleep. The alarm clock went off and my teen was getting up for school.
My teen asked me what was wrong? Why I was walking funny. I explained my lack of sleep story. She was relatively quiet and told me to go back to bed: my teen was off to school. I laid down for a few more minutes. It was time for her to get ready for school.
Waking up and getting ready, she quickly ran into the bathroom. Showered and dressed, my baby asked if I was ready to do her hair. I said "YES." By the look on my face, she knew I was hurting and didn't fuss to much. I reminded her to take her saxophone to school for her lesson and gave her money for breakfast. We were early today.
As we sat down, she apologized for my lack of sleep and not listening to me. I got my mommy kiss and reminded her that I wanted to spare her this kind of pain. There are some things a soon to be 11-year-old shouldn't hear or see. Today, she learned the hard way that Mommy knows best because I was her age once. I really was.
Her bus picked her up and before I head back to bed. I wanted to share my morning blog with you. The things we mommies must do. Forgive me for sounding like Dr. Seuss, too.(wink)
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Tuesday, January 4th 2011 at 10:39AM
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