Night Becomes Her

I am a former creature of the night.

I have adapted to functioning in the daylight hours, despite my reluctance to do so. My family's needs require that I be alert and well rested in order to adequately care for them and our household. They are all early to bed, early to rise... and I am not. I prefer to stay up long past the midnight hour, and sleep well into the morning. Alas, this is not feasible when you have four young children to care for and a husband that works early in the morning. I prefer to dance attendance upon them in the mornings, getting their breakfast ready, their lunches packed. I prefer to aid with hair dressing (haha, with the children, not The Man...he's quite capable of combing his own hair :)), making certain that their backpacks are packed and that they have what they need to get through the day. These things I do for love and care of them. These things are sometimes a burden but always worth the doing of. And thus, I go to sleep when they do, and rise when they do.

I did not concede to this easily. And I still have not completely given over to the Light Side... this is a temporary arrangement until I can return to my former habits of late nights and later days.

Even as a child, I far preferred to stay awake into the wee hours, reading, drawing, listening to music. As a teenager, I found the gentle night something to revel in, and was in my element when the skies turned dark and the sun vanished beyond the horizon. I would find myself infused with energy under the star-lit skies, more so than I did during the day. I felt alive, alert, eager. And as an adult, even a young mother with a new born, when sleep was at a premium, I found my happiest hours in the darkest part of the night. I would often remain awake long after my household found slumber, doing what I wanted without children and husband under foot. Did I pay for it during the day? Absolutely. I was tired and slow all day, but my schedule was largely my own, since none of my children, then, were in school yet. So I could drowse when my babies napped, clean when I had the energy, grocery shop when I felt like it... and my schedule was only hampered by the need for their naps and meal times.

The sunlight seems too bright, too harsh, painful to my eyes, damaging to my fair skin...

I far prefer the velvet comfort of the darkness, gently illuminated by moon and stars...

Ah, well. In most things, we must compromise. I view this as a temporary necessity. As my children grow, and become less dependant on me, I will be able to indulge my preference as I will.

Some night...