Rollercoasters

Even though it is almost 2 a.m., I wanted to record some funny memories from tonight. Briefly, it was all night prayer and we tried to take Simon though we should have known better. He usually stays with my parents, but they are out of town. We didn't even have a playpen, so we really should have known better.

Simon did great, though. He didn't just plop down on the floor in the meeting room with all the lights and noise and people and just go to sleep, but he did go to sleep in the 'Pakistan Room,' -- a small room down the hall. So, here I am in the Pakistan Room with Simon from roughly 9 p.m. till 1 a.m. Simon went to sleep around 9:30. What did I do? Hmmm...that is what this post is about.

I didn't sleep. The floor was so hard and my feet were cold. Plus, I have a complex sleeping in strange places, and I think the Pakistan Room qualifies as a strange place to sleep.

On the upside: I did get to spend time praying for many things BUT on the other hand, at one point I found myself actually about to pray for a situation in a book that I am reading. Hmm...maybe I was a little tired.

On the upside: I had many motherly bonding times with Simon. Getting him to go to sleep next to me, looking at his face and hearing him breathe, making sure he was tucked in tightly and that his pajama pants went down to his ankles instead of riding up to his knees, BUT on the other hand, I did at one point convince myself that since Simon was sleeping soundly, he wouldn't miss and didn't really need his pillow and blanket anymore. I confess I took them. But for only about 5 minutes. When he readjusted to snuggle up under a rolling desk chair, it was too much for me to take. I surrendered the blanket and pillow.

On the upside: I was so bored waiting for Matt to come relieve me that a cricket in the hall only upset me for a little bit. The cricket who normally would have annoyed me by its very presence actually kept me entertained b/c I watched its travels up and down the hall.

On the upside: When Matt finally relieved me, I thought we had another hour before we could take Simon home. (Matt was leading worship at the beginning of the second session and we had to wait until then to leave.) But Matt came AFTER leading worship, so we got to leave right then (GAIN.) I was really confused about what time it was b/c when he came, the clock on the phone in the Pakistan Room said January 5th 11:55 p.m. This is the clock I looked at every 4 minutes or so. Then I got in the van and saw that is was almost 1:00 a.m. (LOSS) It was such a roller coaster of gaining and losing time.

All in all, I really have no idea how I passed almost 4 hours by myself in wakeful solitude and physical discomfort. I kept wishing I had someone to laugh with over the funny things that kept happening.