My blog title is a woman's journey through motherhood, marriage and ministry and it is not lost on me that most of my posts are about motherhood. It's an easy one. My kids do the weirdest, funniest, silliest, scariest and sometimes horrible-est things and it's interesting. Plus they don't have much of a say about what I decide to blog on. They're great blog material (and I find it keeps me sane).
But when it comes to marriage and ministry? That's a whole other story. Those two things involve people who do have a say about what I blog about. They may, or may not, want to be my blog material. I totally understand that and want to respect other people's privacy. This is sometimes difficult though because so much stuff happens in both of those areas of my life and it's really challenging to figure out what I can blog about.
I'm saying this because I decided to do a, hopefully, light-hearted blog about marriage. More specifically what it must be like to be married to me.
My friend posted this on her facebook status the other day and I immediately thought of Mark and I. We're weird. But our weirdness is compatible!
For one, my eyelids are way too thin. I turn my clock almost completely off at night because I can still see the light through my eyelids. I have to make sure the curtains are completely shut because any crack of moonlight or sunlight, I see. My cell phone - which charges near my bed - must lie facedown so I don't see it's light. When Mark gets up earlier than me I have to bury my head under the covers because the light that escapes under the bathroom door annoys me. I think I need to invest in one of those masks...
Also I hear everything. I hear a kid crying (and not through the baby monitor), a cat scratching, a dog barking, a coyote howling, wind blowing, rain falling, diesel trucks starting, Mark snoring, the cat giving himself a bath, a watch ticking (I could not sleep one night because there was a watch somewhere in our room that was ticking so loudly!), my own breathing and my mind racing. Sometimes it's so hard to sleep with myself.
We climb into bed, Mark's head hits the pillow and within a matter of literally seconds (maybe 90 seconds at the most) he's asleep. I hear his deep breathing and I'm amazed! I still haven't adjusted my covers, my pillow or my pajamas, or made sure there's no light shining anywhere. I kinda feel like a dog spinning in circles trying to figure out the best way to sleep. It can take me anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to fall asleep depending on how many things I "see" or "hear".
Mark tells me to just ignore it. That's what he does anyway. Believe me if I could I would. I'd rather not toss and turn and get up and adjust things. I'd rather fall into a deep sleep like I'd like to but it just doesn't happen that way for me.
We share a queen size bed and really it's fine. We're little people so a king size bed feels enormous. Plus we get cold. Mark says we have a symbiotic sleeping relationship. And I don't really mind sharing warmth but once I'm asleep there's an imaginary line drawn down the center of our bed and I know in an instant if he's crossed it. I've wound up rolling onto my side and rolling right into an elbow. Of course I wake up and Mark does not. Sometimes I'll roll over and there's Mark's foot....across the line! This is going to sound completely ridiculous, I know, but I feel claustrophobic. I kinda gently move him back onto his side of the line.
We also play covers-tug-o-war. He pulls the covers with him when he rolls over leaving me with a cold side. So I pull them back. We do this several times a night. Sometimes when he wakes up and see how many covers he has, he's amazed! Of course he doesn't wake up in the night when we're doing the tugging....
There are the nights when I pray....a lot. For peace. For sleep. For thicker eyelids and ear plugs.
And nights that I pray a prayer of thanksgiving for Mark. Somehow, even though he shares a bed with me, he sleeps! I guess this is one of those weirdness compatibility things.
But when it comes to marriage and ministry? That's a whole other story. Those two things involve people who do have a say about what I blog about. They may, or may not, want to be my blog material. I totally understand that and want to respect other people's privacy. This is sometimes difficult though because so much stuff happens in both of those areas of my life and it's really challenging to figure out what I can blog about.
I'm saying this because I decided to do a, hopefully, light-hearted blog about marriage. More specifically what it must be like to be married to me.
My friend posted this on her facebook status the other day and I immediately thought of Mark and I. We're weird. But our weirdness is compatible!
One of my weirdness qualities is my ability, or inability, to just sleep. I think I'm a pretty annoying actually. Well I'd be annoyed if I were Mark. I guess that's why our weirdness' are compatible.
For one, my eyelids are way too thin. I turn my clock almost completely off at night because I can still see the light through my eyelids. I have to make sure the curtains are completely shut because any crack of moonlight or sunlight, I see. My cell phone - which charges near my bed - must lie facedown so I don't see it's light. When Mark gets up earlier than me I have to bury my head under the covers because the light that escapes under the bathroom door annoys me. I think I need to invest in one of those masks...
Also I hear everything. I hear a kid crying (and not through the baby monitor), a cat scratching, a dog barking, a coyote howling, wind blowing, rain falling, diesel trucks starting, Mark snoring, the cat giving himself a bath, a watch ticking (I could not sleep one night because there was a watch somewhere in our room that was ticking so loudly!), my own breathing and my mind racing. Sometimes it's so hard to sleep with myself.
We climb into bed, Mark's head hits the pillow and within a matter of literally seconds (maybe 90 seconds at the most) he's asleep. I hear his deep breathing and I'm amazed! I still haven't adjusted my covers, my pillow or my pajamas, or made sure there's no light shining anywhere. I kinda feel like a dog spinning in circles trying to figure out the best way to sleep. It can take me anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to fall asleep depending on how many things I "see" or "hear".
Mark tells me to just ignore it. That's what he does anyway. Believe me if I could I would. I'd rather not toss and turn and get up and adjust things. I'd rather fall into a deep sleep like I'd like to but it just doesn't happen that way for me.
We share a queen size bed and really it's fine. We're little people so a king size bed feels enormous. Plus we get cold. Mark says we have a symbiotic sleeping relationship. And I don't really mind sharing warmth but once I'm asleep there's an imaginary line drawn down the center of our bed and I know in an instant if he's crossed it. I've wound up rolling onto my side and rolling right into an elbow. Of course I wake up and Mark does not. Sometimes I'll roll over and there's Mark's foot....across the line! This is going to sound completely ridiculous, I know, but I feel claustrophobic. I kinda gently move him back onto his side of the line.
We also play covers-tug-o-war. He pulls the covers with him when he rolls over leaving me with a cold side. So I pull them back. We do this several times a night. Sometimes when he wakes up and see how many covers he has, he's amazed! Of course he doesn't wake up in the night when we're doing the tugging....
There are the nights when I pray....a lot. For peace. For sleep. For thicker eyelids and ear plugs.
And nights that I pray a prayer of thanksgiving for Mark. Somehow, even though he shares a bed with me, he sleeps! I guess this is one of those weirdness compatibility things.
