June 8, 2013: Midnight Conversations

This should be called "Middle of the Night Conversations"; 3:30 a.m. actually. But the title is too long for a blog. You get the drift.

3:33 a.m.: A knock at my bedroom door with words of a stomach ache from a young house guest. The intended over-nighter with Grant had turned into a half-nighter. With a call from his personal cell phone, a tired father was already on his way.

With windows open and a cool breeze filling my room, the interruption in sleep seemed minor. Back in the day there were many broken nights like these; some that required my driving across town to pick up my own child. More often it was kids leaving my house in the middle of the night. Not sure on the message behind this theme.

3:55 a.m.: As our house occupants had decreased by one, the silence of the night was broken by a blaring car alarm. As is typical with middle of the night noises, I first laid in bed wishing it away. Then I got up to investigate through my opened window. Definitely coming from my property and not inside my garage. It was Stefano's car in the driveway. I woke him and he turned it off.

4:07 a.m.: Back to sleep or so we think. After a conversation with Stefano and deciding the alarm was a false alarm with no worries, it randomly went off again. Now it got our attention. A burgler? A car thief? A rodent? With baseball bat in hand, Stefano checked the perimeter of the house.

4:12 a.m.: Finding no culprits, the car was safely tucked into the garage. The doors to the house were doubled locked and checked. Security in place, it was time to call in a night (or a morning) again.

5:05 a.m.: The last time I looked at my clock before finally falling back to sleep. Middle of the night conversations, even with myself, were officially over. No alarms set...noon mass...I slept in...