Good Friday morning, readers! I’ve got a surprise for you today. My blogging buddy, Pam, over yonder at her blog roughwighting and I have done The Great Blogging Switcheroo.
What, you ask, is a Great Blogging Switcheroo?
A Great Blogging Switcheroo is when two bloggers decide to blog simultaneously on one another’s blogs. Pam is sharing a delightful story here and I am sharing a story about the modern-day caveman who lived in our woods back in the 1970’s.
So now that you have the Switcheroo basics, please settle down to enjoy meeting and reading my buddy, Pam. I would love it if you welcome her warmly in the comments. Then, if you have five extra minutes, buzz on over to her site and learn something never-before-revealed about our Little House in the Big Woods.
Without any further delay, here’s Pam!
Half moon
I open one eye and read the yellow-tinted clock – the one I’ve wanted to move away from my night table for years, but never do.
1:45 a.m.
I sigh and open the other eye. Really? Because right now my sight is rather blurry. Maybe the clock says 9:05. Ah, that would be bliss, to have slept through the night, an unlikely occurrence for most women over the age of, well, over that age.
When I think about it (and really, I might as well think now, because it’s unlikely I’ll get back to sleep), we women have a bum rap. Finally, when we’re over that certain age – too old to have babies screaming for a bottle or teenagers breaking a midnight curfew – so we can finally sleep undisturbed, our bodies won’t let us!
Just another example of why God must not be a woman.
I laugh at my idiotic mutterings. However, as I listen to my husband snore softly next to me, having absolutely no problem with sleep, I wonder if I’m not so crazy after all.
I stare out the window and close my eyes. 100 99 98 97
“Cheep! Cheep cheep!”
My eyes snap open. Birds? At a quarter to two in the morning?
Henry the dog
An entire melody. Impossible. Isn’t it? I always thought that birds woke up with the sun. So what’s the singing about?
I rise from the bed as husband rolls over, comfortable as a dog; in fact, I almost stumble over our golden, who is flat on his back on the floor by my side of the bed, legs open wide, eyes closed, mouth in a wide grin. Men! They are blessed, I mumble.
But then I realize that it’s light enough so that I can see the dog’s happy torpor. Maybe the clock is broken, and I’ve slept six full hours to wake with the rising sun. Yippee! I race to the window and gape.
A spectacularly bright half moon gleams back at me, as pleased as the slumbering dog. Huh, so the moon is male too! And the moon is so bright, the birds got confused and woke up and began to sing their version of “Good Morning Starshine, The Earth is Alive!”
I stumble toward the kitchen and the oven clock. 2:03. Drat.
Refrigerator magnets
I pause, wondering what to do now. Warm up some milk? Munch on a cookie? I open up the cookie jar and pick up a chocolate chip bar made earlier in the day. As I stand on one leg, then the other (working on my yoga balance), I stare at the refrigerator door, full of family pictures made into magnets. Our kids, grandkids, friends, all smiling out at me. Thank goodness we never bought one of those ‘new’ silver steel fridges. If we’d gone modern, we’d never be able to slap our life onto the front of it.
I bite on another chunk of the sweet gooey bar as I peruse the photo of our sweet grandson. There’s a picture of him as an infant. Just a few days ago I’d spent a couple of hours playing with the 1-year-old. As I left to return home, the toddler wrapped his arms around my neck and opened his mouth wide, like a fish, and pressed it against my mouth – his kiss goodbye. God, I’d melted like ice on hot tar.
Now I tiptoe back to the moon-infused bedroom, dog unmoved, husband still in dreamland, bed inviting me to join them in mindless slumber.
Pacific Wren
What the heck, I’ll try.
Good morning starshine
The earth says hello
You twinkle above us
We twinkle below
Good morning starshine
You lead us along
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song (by Oliver, in Hair)
Thanks to Kathy for inviting me to her beautiful soul-lifting blog – what an honor! We decided to embark on “The Great Switcheroo .” So you can find your wonderful blogging friend on my roughwighting site, and my followers can find me on Lake Superior Spirit. Yes, that’s the true spirit of blogging friendship.
Lake Superior Spirit 
I can so relate–being a woman of that ahem, age. I was up at 1:00 last night too–confused as to what to do next, so I read, checked my blog friends, read again, and finally got in a few more hours of sleep–this was a great post
Thanks for joining me in my insomnia! (since it’s only 6:23 am left coast time, and I’ve been up for a while, of course…). On the plus sign, we get to see that beautiful moon shining through and into us.
Oh my. I’m also a woman of that age. Sounds like almost any night of the week (or weekend) for me, too. I’m never quite sure if I should get up and enjoy the extra “wake-up” time, or do my backwards counting (by 3’s) to try to go back to sleep. Last night I watched the 3:00 am lightning zoom across the sky. Perhaps insomnia is a way for us to fit in more of the beauty of life.
Beautifully written post. Thank you. You’ve made me appreciate insomnia, something I never thought I’d say or write. 🙂
My friends and I discuss what the ‘experts’ say. Half of them state ‘get out of bed, walk around, write a list of what’s on your mind, then try and go back to sleep.’ The other half say, ‘STAY IN BED AND DO NOT MOVE.’ I’m with you, let’s see what’s going on in the middle of the night – and enjoy the night-time show.
Oh, Pam, how I love this blog! Resonates through and through — including the melting like ice on hot tar over that grandson’s crazy good kiss. I sometimes wish there could be a magical convergence of all women of “that” age. We could sit around and chat, or wander outside for moonlit adventure walks, or — well, you get the idea. Thanks so much for being the “switcheroo” blogger today. What fun and delight! Wishing for you a luscious nap later, if at all possible.
Now that is a fabulous idea! We’d have special (quiet) cell phone texts at 2 a.m. for those of us still up, meet like fairy queens down at the lagoon (in my case here, maybe in the wooded knoll at other locations) and ‘converge’ under the moonlight, talking, sipping chamomile tea, and giggling.
Good Morning Pam,
Your message here is something I can relate too from being awake all night long, caring for my aging dog, Chloe. I notice the birds singing around 2-3am and they brighten my night 🙂 My sleep lately has been limited to about 4 hours each day because of the caring for my dog and then keeping up with housework and taking care of my 8th grade son. Thank you for sharing your story here and I hope you have a beautiful day ♥
Ah, our doggies, how we do love them, and how they do keep us up in their older years. We are just about at that point with our Henry. He is aging with dignity and grace; I believe our dogs are our guides in the aging process, and in the realization that we will be all there sometime, so let’s be caring and attentive to those who reach that point before we do.
My dog, Chloe is 14 1/2 years old and her life is winding down now. I think it will be time for her to cross the rainbow bridge soon—I am giving her all my TLC because she has been my loyal companion and loving protector all her life ♥ I hope your dog, Henry will feel all your love too and cross peacefully over the rainbow bridge when it’s his time too. Maybe he and Chloe will meet each other and run playfully across a flower filled meadow along with my other dog, Sienna who passed away a couple years ago ♥ Thank you for understanding how important and precious our aging pets are in our lives ♥
I love the image of the rainbow bridge. Our first golden, Tory, will hopefully find Chloe, Sienna and Henry when it’s the right time. Those who don’t have a dog in their life sometimes don’t understand how they connect to us more viscerally than any human can.
Hello Pam – how lovely to meet you via Kathy’s blog. I love your blogpost and can relate to it entirely. Hugs!
NIce to meet you too! Kathy has such wonderful loyal followers. She is so generous to give me some space in her wonderful blog world.
Pam, I too can relate. The other night I think I awoke to welcome every hour between 10pm and 6am. I am ‘of that age’, probably older. Sometimes a fifteen minute nap helps during the day….most times not…yawn…yawn….:)
Isn’t it amazing, how many of us ‘suffer’ from a form of sleeplessness? I guess we’re meant to be aware of the sounds of silence surrounding us in the middle of the night. I’m sending a yawn right back at ya.
We may not be blood sisters, Pam, but we are certainly soul sisters! Love you and your writing….Going down to MD for Gwenny’s 1st birthday party where I will get my open mouthed kiss and indeed melt like ice on hot tar! By the way, you are the second Pitman friend to quote Good Morning Starshine to me this week – are we all cosmically entwined and you know I was up twice this week at 3…enjoy your weekend and the blog switch was fun!
Oh yes, we are cosmically connected as we both hum along with the Starshine. Now, go enjoy your warm gooey granddaughtery kisses!
I love moonlight, even when it’s so bright it confuses the birds…there’s something so magical, gentle and just…well, silver about it. Love the story Pam, and great idea to do a switcheroo! Have a great weekend:-) Blessings, H xxx
Glad you said this about moonlight, because the moon is a part of my ‘existence,’ for some reason. The moon is a friend who I search for every night. The moon glows into my bedroom and sooths my nighttime terrors, and my sometimes too-hectic thoughts. Here’s to the moon, and to you joining me over here. THANKS.
Well this sure makes me feel normal! Right down to the snoring husband, sleeping dogs (even my dogs SNORE), and the counting backwards..I have found that counting by threes is more effective! It seems to mix up the sheep! I loved your blog. 🙂
Thank you Barb, so nice to meet you! I’ll try counting in three’s tonight; however, since math is NOT my strong suit, I may give up by 100…97… 94…, um, what’s next??? :-0
Your post made me smile, Pam. I remember those many years of insomnia! A cup of chamomile tea, a hot bath, and an extra hour or two of reading usually did the trick for me back then. Not during the hot flash years, though; many a winter night found me standing outside in my jammies in freezing temperatures! So many days of walking around foggy brained from lack of sleep. I’m happy to report that, for me at least, things did get better on the other side. I do wake up much earlier than I used to in my younger years, though, and have found new appreciation for the gifts of those early morning hours.
I like that expression – things get better ‘on the other side.’ Funny how I used to sleep in flannel jammies and a thick blanket – now the wind screams through the open window at night when it’s 45 degrees out, and I’m still too warm! Til later – I’m off for that cup of chamomile.
Perhaps your body has returned to the rhythms of your ancestors and you are moving into the phase of – 2 sleeps 🙂 Heck, through in a nap and make it three! http://slumberwise.com/science/your-ancestors-didnt-sleep-like-you/
Thanks for including that link about how our long-ago ancestors used to sleep. I don’t think we could get away with that now in this technological age. But I will admit it sounds tempting…!
Up at 1 and then again at 3 or 4, shifting cats, stepping over dogs and trotting to the bathroom tonight, I’ll be thinking of you and knowing I’m not alone …
Now, I’m off to your blog to see what not-so-flat Kathy has to say. (Hope you get the reference … if not, she’ll explain 😉
Okay, you got me – I don’t know about not-so-flat Kathy, and you can be sure I’ll be asking her about that!
Yes, now when I wake up at 1..and 3…and then again at 4:08, I’ll be soothed realizing that there seems to be a whole host of us wandering our homes in dazed bewilderment, wondering what the heck to do with ourselves.
Pam – Oh how FUN to find you blogging over here. Next I’ll go find Kathy blogging over at your place. Great post! 🙂
Love seeing your smiling photo at both of our sites. Namaste.
My 25 year old son is a morning person and he goes to bed religiously at 9pm. He’s also conscientious enough to lecture me about how I should go to bed too because I need my sleep. He doesn’t understand that if I go to bed at 9 I’ll be up from 11-3! Women of a certain age indeed!
Oh, this made me smile. First, that our ‘adult’ children now lecture us on how we should be behaving (or sleeping), and second, what they still do not understand about their moms.
Cool idea! I loved visiting both your blogs today.
I think Kathy and I have enjoyed it the most – we’ve been like two kindergarteners chuckling behind the teacher’s back. A switcheroo! No one better to switch with than the incomparable Lake Superior Spirit.
Switcheroo — How fun! I enjoyed the read, especially the grandson kisses – so sweet.
Can there be ANYTHING sweeter than a sincere, happy kiss from a 1-year-old??
Okay, I’m a member of this club. Didn’t think about the fact that my insomnia might be related to aging, however. What was I thinking–or not thinking, as the case may be? LOL
LOVE the switcheroo idea! Loved your post even more, Pam!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
Wonderful to meet you, and to learn of YOUR neck of the woods through your latest blog post, where the rivers speak to you in a beautiful language.
But our sleeplessness? Ah, yes, a language only those of us of that ‘certain age’ can understand.
Fun idea this Switcheroo! Your opening lines drew me right in.
Wonderful! Glad you entered into my story and enjoyed the moon with me. Thank you!
Wow! Another woman of a certain age with sleep issues. Reading the comments there’s a whole passel of us. I agree, we should all live together somewhere so we’d have company on our nightly adventures. Took the dog out this evening and noticed the moon is already high in the sky. Maybe it will go to bed when we do and the birds will sleep through the night. Us? Probably not. But we’ll all know we are not alone.
Exactly. We are not alone, in our lonely wakefulness at 2 a.m. These are the times I wish I could twitch my nose (like Bewitched Samantha) and join a circle of like-minded wakeful woman in the middle of the night. 🙂
I am up at 2AM almost every night. I look at the stars, make a cup of chamomile tea, think, make lists, sometimes write or read. When I was much younger, I’d scrub floors through the night. I never have that much energy these days. If I’m lucky, I’m back in bed by 4AM, and able to sleep well ’til 8. Nice post; thank you!
Oh noooo, not scrub the floors!!! Don’t tell anyone that. Now we’ll all wake up thinking, ‘hmmm, should I actually do something productive while I’m wide awake?’ I much prefer your list-making, tea sipping, and writing. Thinking, however, is the destroyer of sleep, I’ve decided.
Love this post. Sure can relate to all of that although I am waaaay passed the age you “speak of.”
Well, since we women never really ‘age,’ but just mature into greater wisdom and beauty, I salute you.
Oh, I know of what you speak! Now that I can finally sleep in, my body won’t let me. Many a sleepless night and nearly always up by 5:00 a.m.
Isn’t that a kicker? This morning, for instance. Saturday, no plan until 9:30 a.m. yoga, but the eyes and the brain are up and moving at 5:30. Sigh. Hopefully you just gave up, got up, and wrote a good poem.
Hi there Pam. Nice to meet you. This was a great post. I don’t know what “that age” is, but I still have teenagers and can certainly relate to the battle with the clock!
We’re women, we worry, we take care of the ‘hood,’ all reasons to have sleepless night with only the moon for company. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Pam! How wonderful to see you here! 🙂
While I am of ‘that age’, the insomnia hasn’t quite hit yet. I do like my sleep, so have to be careful not to drink too much before bedtime, as THAT can wake me several times in the night! The nights before I know I have to work are often restless for me, though. I am pretty sure it’s the stress that causes my insomnia, so I consider myself semi-retired, which helps me get a good night’s sleep whenever I am not worried about working the next day! Hope your restless nights are few and far between. 🙂
Lucky you! I met a 60-ish man (husband of a friend) this weekend and I asked him if he’s retired. “Sort of,” he replied. “I’m tired, just haven’t gotten to the ‘re’ part yet.” 🙂
Wonder if HE has insomnia?
Loved your story as it hits so close to home. It was like you were watching what I was doing last night. There’s comfort in knowing that you’re not the only woman awake at 2, 3 or 4 AM. 🙂
I promise, I wasn’t watching. But I also promise, I was walking the unlit hallways at 3 a.m. also last night. Sigh. Welcome to our world, and you’re welcome to it, right?
Well, it’s better than the alternative, so yes, I’ll welcome it. 🙂
Pam, thank you again SO MUCH for playing along with the Great Blogging Switcheroo. It was so much fun! I am glad you have been properly introduced to so many of my readers and I hope they come and read your wonderful stories every single Friday. 🙂
Shoot – still learning this thing – my reply is below. …. :-0
I love your readers – they have been extremely welcoming as well as comforting to me – we have a sisterhood out there, and they join us in our ‘writerly’ struggle to illuminate a little about ‘life’ in our blogs. Thanks Kathy for the chance to say hi to the wonderful followers of Lake Superior Spirit. xo
Fortunately, I haven’t had problems sleeping lately. In fact, I have a lot of trouble waking up – practically comatose until I have my second cup of coffee. I’m going to have to make some of those gooey bars just in case, though. ❤
I AM SO JEALOUS!! Enjoy your sleep – and then wake up to a gooey bar – win/win!
Definitely a win/win! ❤
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I bought one of those damn silver refrigerators not knowing magnets would work on it, but scratch it all to pieces…. well sort of. I hate it.
Love your post, though!
Ditto on the husband who sleeps…. not me.
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