Good Night

There is something truly wonderful about coming home to a house in which everyone there is already asleep. There is no squabbling. No flying balls. No instrument being practiced. There is no TV or Wii. No radio or humming. The house is quiet and calm. It isn’t as if these things aren’t true for a few hours almost every day when the kids are at school and my husband is at the office but there is something completely different about it at night, with them home, sleeping in their beds.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that it is dark out and everything is just different late at night. I remember when I was a teen and was preparing to head out with friends. My father would ask why we went out so late. He couldn’t understand why it made a difference if we’re out between 8-10pm or 10pm-midnight. I didn’t have a good answer for him then and I still don’t have one, but I know that it does make a difference.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I have fewer things that I must get done or that I am not keeping tabs on when my next shift as chauffeur, short order cook or dog walker will begin.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the phone is unlikely to ring at this hour but that even if it did there is every reason to believe it would be a call from someone from whom I would love to hear.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I am more relaxed as I was not the one who had to wrangle the kids through their bedtime routines, reminding them of what they need to do, even though it is the same sequence they have followed each night for years.

Whatever the reason, there is a warmth and comfort after everyone has fallen asleep which just doesn’t exist when I am in the house alone. With my family home and tucked in the peacefulness is complete.