Boundaries and Bumps in the Night

 

I don't want it to come to this

I was pondering a post about waking up early and the intricacies of monsters in the silence.

But, nah, I thought, let me see if I can get some more rest before my Friday morning sports chat on WGCH (7:50 a.m.).

I'd been awakened at five by, well, by the fact that I'm almost 55 and try to avoid kidney stones. 

Do the math.

Oh, and The Cat. Of course.

So I tossed, turned, read, etc. Then I tried one more time to get some rest.

It was 7:08 and my phone buzzed.

Among the rules in the Adams house of my youth was that the house phone was not to ring after 9 p.m. This was pre-cell phone and I'm sure my father wouldn't have cared so long as it didn't wake him up.

We had a phone right next to his bed and there was hell to pay if it rang after 9 p.m.

Generally, it was a rule that the phone was OK between 9 a.m.-9 p.m. After that, it better be an emergency or some extreme circumstance.

Given I'm the type who puts myself out to some in my world for 24/7 access, I keep my phone right next to me at night. My ringer was almost always on at one time because I wanted to make sure Sean and others could get me if needed. I still at least acknowledge my parent's old phone rules even if it's more of a guideline now. As Sean is 21 (and currently in the next room) I'm not so strict about leaving the ringer on.

So, yeah, I get a bit salty sometimes when a lack of judgment leads to something unnecessary that wakes me up or keeps me from getting back to sleep while I'm pondering monsters in the wee small hours of the morning.

Of course, it's happy thoughts we're supposed to focus on in those still moments of darkness.

There was once a time when I'd use the TV as my distraction to zone back out, moving to a couch or just sitting in bed.

Then along came the devices. Now I look at my phone.

And then I discovered the unnecessary texts and messages. OK, OK, not all of them are unnecessary.

I've gotten good at putting my AirPods in and listening to music. 

But, yeah, the monsters are always nearby, just waiting to climb into the crevices of my brain to whisper some kind of malevolent sweet nothing, worth nothing, of course.

I've babbled enough.

I've been on WGCH already.

I'm going to try to rest.

And that didn't work. The phone buzzed seconds later.

Friends, this is frankly becoming untenable.

So, yeah, let's just forget this whole post and please listen to us call football tonight in Danbury.