It was one thing I didn’t anticipate – that we would run into some strange sleeping patterns post Mike’s retirement.
Mike has always been a night person. Right at the birth of our relationship, we went out for coffee after a meeting and he said to me, “I’ll call you during the week.” I was working at Red Cross Children’s Hospital and was on night duty. I would wait until midnight and if he hadn’t phoned by then, I could relax – he surely wouldn’t phone after that. At 1am, the phone rang and I cheerfully answered it. There he was! 1am! It was then that I learned was a Mike is a night owl.
But all these years of early mornings have driven him to bed by 10-30/11pmish. It shouldn’t have, but it came as a surprise, after retirement, to see him very quickly revert back to staying up all hours of the night!
The other night I had already turned in when I sleepily heard him come to bed. A short while later, he made an unusual sound and I woke enough to say, “what’s wrong?” “Ooh,” he said, “I’ve got such a cramp in my leg.” He stretched it out and said, “Ah that’s better” and I went back to sleep. Something made me wake up and I reached across to find his side of the bed empty. I hopped out of bed and went to look for him. I found him in the kitchen. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied, “I’m just getting one of those fizzy drinks that helps cramps.” We both plonked ourselves down in front of the TV and started watching the American political merry-go-round. Mike got ice-cream and I glanced up at the clock. “Don’t look,” I said, “What time do you think it is?” “Oh, about half past midnight,” he guessed.
I laughed. “It’s ten to 2!”
We sat and ate ice cream and watched the start of an Agatha Christie series. By 2-30am, we’d had enough and returned to bed.
The pleasure in it was that it could happen at all. It didn’t matter if we woke up late. We could sleep as late as we liked!
What a treat!
Psalm 42:8
By day the LORD directs His love, at night His song is with me– a prayer to the God of my life.
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂