Although I have done my share of crying alone in the dark, and certainly waited for the monster under my bed to go to sleep, I'll share something else.

Alone In The Dark

One night, all of my kids were out. I decided to wait up in the living room. I lay down on the couch with a book and fell asleep. While I was asleep the power went out. I have a very large bed. I don't often lay on the couch and never sleep there.

Some time after the power went off, a neighbor came home. The slamming door woke me up I rolled over to turn on the bedside lamp. CRASH!!

I landed on the floor. I was very dioriented. The first thing I did. Not reach for the light, not assess the amount of damage, not even call out to see if the kids had come in. I very quickly scanned the totally dark living room to see if anyone had noticed my fall from grace!

I sat there a minute and realized how foolish that was, to see who noticed me falling off my couch in a completely darkened room. I began to laugh. I was laughing so hard I couldn't get off the floor!

Then I began laughing harder. I wondered what the neighbors or my children would think. What's she doing in there in the dark, laughing like a maniac? This made me laugh so hard I was afraid I would embarass myself further. I was still laughing so hard I couldn't get up.

In walked the kids! There were tears pouring down my face, and I still could not stop. One turned to the other and said, " I guess we didn't need to worry about Mom being afraid to be alone in the dark". I just made it to the batrhroom! It took almost an hour to explain the hysterics. We ate ice cream in the dark so it wouldn't melt.

After that when ever anyone was feeling down, someone would say, " Do I need to turn off the lights and get the ice cream?".