But there was a death in the church where I work, and a service bulletin to be printed, so I had to go in to work on Monday. I debated skipping the whole Sea World thing, but decided to go early in the morning instead. I mean, still-dark early, which is pretty amazing for me. I don't roll out of bed as a nice woman and especially not before 7:00 or so. But I did it. I went to work at oh-dark-thirty and came home, slurped up a cup of coffee, packed some lunches (I'm not paying for theme park food!) and headed to Orlando for a sweaty crowd fest. Ugh.
I took a soothing detox bath after that. And geared up for Blackout Night.
Due to scheduling errors, Blackout Night was moved to Monday this week. I didn't plan well for it either. I neglected to plan a no-energy meal, so I made spaghetti. It's low-energy, anyway. And sauce is super-easy to make. Just a couple cans of diced tomatoes (most of them don't have any additives, by the way - but I like to read the labels just in case - and they're easier to deal with than fresh tomatoes), 1/2 c. or so of olive oil, a couple cloves of garlic and basil. Oh - and kosher salt. That's the best kind.
So, I cooked up the spaghetti and then shouted "lights out!" And I really love how the silence just descends on the whole house. After supper, I hurried to the living room to spend a little time with Honeybee Stole (we've made up since our last disagreement) while there was still daylight available.
And I sipped a glass of iced tea in a leisurely way.
And we started in on a series of family discussions that my family used when I was a kid. The books are called Character Sketches and they use illustrations from nature and from the Bible to teach about different aspects of good character. We started with "loyalty" and the Great Horned Owl. The kids were surprisingly into it and we really enjoyed their participation in our discussion.
Have I mentioned that I love my kids? And that they're awesome? I have? Oh. Well, they still are.
Games were next on the agenda. Crazy Eights, anyone?
By the time we finished two rounds of Crazy Eights, it was time to shuffle the kids off to their rooms for their nightly quiet time and I tiptoed out onto the porch with my knitting, hoping to get through just a few more rows. The sun was going down and we hadn't had any afternoon rain, so all the birds and cicadas and frogs were just singing away as we breathed in the joy of a well-spent evening. I knitted until I had my hands nearly up to my eyeballs in an effort to see what I was doing. That's the point at which you must stop - when you are flinging pointy sticks around near your eyes.
Once I had to put my knitting down, I cupped my hands up to my mouth so I could talk to the dove that was cooing somewhere nearby. Somebody taught me to do this when I was a kid - I don't remember who. But it's fun and it usually fools the doves. If you imitate what they say, they'll repeat it back to you again.
Once I had exhausted the conversational possibilities with Ms. Dove, we came back inside to our candle-lit living room and I finished up a book and presently realized that I was very sleepy. And we hadn't even tucked the kids in for the night. Chris was also amazed by this.
Once those kids were prayed with and the younger of the two received the lullaby of her choice, I realized I was not going to make it any longer.
I climbed up into my bed (yes, I actually have a very tall bed) and went to sleep. At 9:00, people! That's unheard-of for this part-time insomniac. But it felt so good.
When Denise arrived this morning to care for the kids, she noticed that it was very quiet in the house. I think that's the first time I'd noticed, but she was right. It's almost as if the peace and contentment of Blackout Night had carried over into the next morning, which is exactly the point. I wanted this experiment to change our interactions with each other - to make us more mindful of our home and the people that live in it and the choices that we make about how to fill our time.
DAILY BLISS: banana oat pancakes for supper
6 comments:
I love the idea of blackout night! How often do you have it? I find it very difficult to go even a few hours without my laptop!!
Sometimes I go to bed at 9pm because my poor old body just says so - with or without lights!!!
Kate - we do it once a week, and usually it's on Tuesday. I think that even if you were able to part with your laptop for an evening, you'd have an awfully hard time peeling Mark's out of his hands...but I would love to see you try :)
I decided to talk to Kris about having a blackout night. He gave me a "what nut juice are you drinking now?" look and changed the subject. Oh well, I'll keep working on it.
I can still enjoy yours. :)
Congratulations for DOING it and not just SAYING you are going to do it.
Well, blow Kris a raspberry for me, Mary. The problem might be in that you may have told him it was my idea. He has never liked any of my ideas. Not since we were 12.
But the great thing is that your continued enthusiasm in reading about Blackout Night is directly responsible for my search for the story of it. Trying to find a different story in evenings that all look the same - candles, books, games - is a real challenge :)
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