Sunday, April 22, 2007

Life List Day 35 - Stay Awake to Enjoy My Son



I've noticed since I've started this life list, sometimes the things I decide to do last minute are more rewarding than what I've planned.

Like today: My "thing to do" was to stand in a line and get tickets for the L.A. Times Festival of Books . "Standing in a line??" you say? "That was your big idea?" In my defense, my thinking was that I've gone to the festival several years and just wind up wandering around. Today I was going to make sure I got the most out of it by getting tickets for the panels.

I know. Lame.

So as I was climbing into bed at 11:00, my 14-year-old son - who sometimes I barely see all day because he's holed up in his room - came happily bounding in like Tigger, as he often does as I'm trying to wind down. He's got that teenaged inner clock that turns nighttime into party time. Today, I thought about the list: What if I did something different? What if, instead of whining that I needed to get to sleep and so did he, I just enjoyed him?

And so I did. He bounced and laughed and talked about every goofy thing that occurred to him for a half-hour. Then he bounded off to take a shower, and - as I clicked off my light to go to sleep - I heard shouted from the bathroom one of those spontaneous "I love you's" that mothers live for.

All in all, a half-hour of sleep well-lost.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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