The Thunder Rolls...

I should be sleeping. Tomorrow is Monday. The boys need up early for school. I desperately need a workout.  The way tomorrow goes will set the tone for the rest of the week.  Sunday nights are crucial.  Sleep is a must.  What keeps me from my bed?  A storm.  And not just any storm - a good ol' Oklahoma storm.  This place does it up right, too. Hail.  Pounding rain.  Thunder that'll make ya go deaf.  It's a very unsettling feeling.

Part of me expects one of my kids to come running out here crying even though they fell asleep before it started and are pretty much impossible to wake once they're out.  Josh can fall asleep to anything. Must be from all these years of nagging at him. "Did you take the trash out?? You know how I feel about you saying you'll take it out in the morning. You SAY that's what you'll do and then who's the one stuck dragging those cans out to the bottom of the driveway? ME, that's who. And I have better things to do with my morning than --ARE YOU EVEN AWAKE???"

I, on the other hand, am a completely different creature. A storm once I'm asleep means nothing to me, but there's a certain time of day that I require peace and calm and that's when I'm trying to fall asleep.  So much goes on during the day that causes ripples to the calm I work so diligently to keep for myself and my family. Like a rock thrown into a still pond were my boys arguing most of the way back from Dallas.  It made me realize that we are entering the "conflict" years with our kids. The closer they get to puberty and *gulps* being teenagers, the more rippled my peace pond is going to get.  Pretty soon, it won't matter what I try to do to calm those waters, something is always going to come up and keep the waves going.  That is my future. That is the future of every mama out there. This, I will accept and concede.

What I will not give up is my peace and quiet when I lay my head down at night.  So, I'm gonna sit this storm out.  I'm going to risk a smooth Monday and stand my ground. Come hell or high water, I will get that still pond.

Love and hugs to all...until we see each other again,

Aub