Wake Up…
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 9:03 PM
They say it’s dangerous to pray for patience, because God will give you opportunities to build your patience, and you won’t get to choose what they are.
I’ve got my own new corollary to that idea: it’s dangerous to make a resolution to do better penance (and declare it publicly!), because God just might send you some serious opportunites. Ones you don’t want, at all.
Last night at 11:00 I was in the bathroom when I heard Bryan yelling from the bedroom, where he was rocking the baby back to sleep. Blaise had a fever and had been up several times since his 7pm bedtime, and I assumed that Bryan’s yelling meant that Camilla had awakened as well, and he needed me to handle her.
This was true, but what he needed me to handle was not the job of putting her back to sleep, but the job of cleaning up the bed, since she had just vomited all over it.
The rest of the night went pretty much the way you would expect. Camilla had a stomach virus, and for several hours couldn’t even keep her own saliva down. She and I were in the bed together, and we both dozed, but every 12 or 15 minutes she’d sit up, agitated. I’d help her get the job done, clean her up, and try to doze off before the next time. Needless to say, it was not restful.
In the other bedroom, Blaise - whose virus was of a respiratory sort - was giving Bryan almost as little sleep as Camilla was giving me.
In the wee hours of the morning Bryan brought an upset Blaise to me. I fed him while Bryan stood watch over Camilla. Neither of us had yet gotten any sleep worth mentioning. We sat there, nearly delirious with exhaustion, when suddenly my husband sighed in laughter.
“Most of parenting is pretty good, but sometimes…” he trailed off, then laughed again. “I guess these are the moments that remind us just how good all the other times are.”
I guess so. I guess they’re also the chances God gives for us to do that penance we’re always claiming we want.
Um. Hooray?
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
