This morning at 4:00 am, I heard my bedroom door creak open.
I sat up and watched as Lottie snuck into my room quietly
shutting the door behind her. Then she tiptoed to my side of the bed
and I opened the warm covers for her, and she nestled down
between Chrisitan and me and fell fast asleep.
Not one word was shared between us.
Around 8:00, when I woke her up for school, I asked her
why she had come all the way down the stairs to our room to sleep
when she has four other beds with siblings in them to choose
from right next to her own room.
Then she told me that she had had a bad dream and went to
Claire's bed only to find Jane was already sleeping in it with
her, and yet still, she pulled herself up
and in her bed, snuggling next to her sisters.
She went on to tell me that that bed got "way too hot," so she got out
of bed and jumped into Jane's abandoned bed, but her bed
was "way too cold," and she skipped the
boy's beds altogether because she didn't want
to wake up Angus, who sleeps on the floor.
So she came downstairs and got in my bed, and it was "just right."
(Clane 2006)
I remember the comforting and safe feeling I experienced as
a young child sleeping in my sibling's bed after a nightmare or
if I had trouble falling asleep.
And I had so many siblings to choose from,
and they never seemed to mind.
My Christmas Amaryllis's POPPED!!
