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Bob,
and a Good Night's Sleep
Bob
was unhappy. He hated having to
sleep. Every night he was tucked
into bed, and away from all the adventures he wanted.
He hated it. Bob hated being tired.
Bob
couldn’t understand why his wonderful days had to end like this ... in bed.
Being tired meant being away from everyone and everything Bob loved. Being told to sleep meant he had to go sleep and no
shenanigans! Being asleep meant
missing everything for the entire night!
It
just didn’t seem fair.
Every
morning Bob jumped out of bed, thrilled to be awake again.
Bob loved being awake. He
tried to do as much as he could everyday.
Bob
helped his Mummy and Daddy around the house.
He ran around his garden. He
played with as many of his toys as he could.
He fought imaginary monsters and won every time.
He watched television and listened to stories and music.
He danced. He sang.
He used every minute of his day.
But
inevitably there would come a time, when Bob started to feel tired.
He tried to hide it, but Mummy and Daddy always knew.
Even
when he wasn’t tired Bob was put into his lonely bed in his lonely room just
because it was time to sleep. Bob’s Mummy and Daddy said night-time was their time.
They said night-time was the time for Bob to sleep, but Bob thought that
was silly. He knew his Mummy and
Daddy loved him. He couldn’t
understand why they didn’t want to share every moment with their son.
Bob
was unaware of how prickly he became when he was tired.
He stung everyone with his sharp denials and peeved protests.
Bob was very grumpy when he was tired.
Very, very grumpy. He
grizzled. He whinged.
He whined. He needed to
sleep.
But
Bob fought sleep like he fought the wind and his daytime monsters.
He won every daytime battle, but he was always defeated by sleep.
Every
night Bob continued to wage war with himself and his exhaustion.
He would force his eyes to stay open, while his eyes begged to close.
He would keep himself awake long after his body and mind were trying to
sneak off to sleep.
Sometimes
Bob kept himself awake with anger and upset for so long that his next day was
ruined by his tiredness. Bob’s parents were exhausted.
They loved to sleep. They
couldn’t understand why Bob didn’t enjoy it too.
Then
one night, everything changed. Bob
met a wonderful reason to sleep.
It
started with Grandpa’s visit. Grandpa had stayed the entire wonderful, wide-awake day with
Bob. They had played with Bob’s
train set, and gone for a long walk and pretended to be brave explorers in a
monster-packed jungle. Grandpa was
good fun.
Grandpa
stayed for the evening meal, and everyone had laughed and laughed.
Bob felt his day was perfect when Grandpa asked if Bob would like to hear
some stories instead of going straight to sleep.
Bob wanted to hear stories all night long, and not sleep at all.
Grandpa
sat down on Bob’s bed and Bob snuggled onto his lap.
Grandpa told him a fascinating story about a pirate and two big brown
bears. Bob closed his eyes so he
could see the story become a movie inside his head.
As
soon as Grandpa’s story ended, with the bears and the pirate becoming
life-long friends sailing over meadows and seas, Bob’s eyes flew open.
Bob didn’t want Grandpa thinking sleep had taken him away from their
time together. Grandpa smiled, and
snuggled Bob under the covers of Bob’s cosy bed, then Grandpa told memory
stories, all about the long ago time when Grandpa was a young man spending time
with Grandma. Bob had never
met this Grandma because she had died before Bob was born.
Grandpa
told Bob how much fun Grandma was, and how much she had loved to play.
His voice became a little croaky when Grandpa said how much he loved
Grandma from the very first time he saw her.
Grandpa’s words shaped an image in Bob’s mind.
He saw Grandma as Grandpa described her.
Grandma
was very, very beautiful. She shone all white and pretty, soft colours.
Her hair was long and curly, and it sparkled in the sunshine in Bob’s
mind. Grandma smiled in a gentle,
soft way that spoke of kind words and thoughts. Her
laughter was like music. Bob
thought he could almost hear her laughter, and Grandpa was right … it did
sound like music.
Bob
listened to the pretty music, and no longer heard his Grandpa speaking, nor felt
Grandpa kiss Bob’s forehead before tiptoeing out of the room.
Bob’s attention was completely taken by the notes and colours
surrounding him. Bob heard his name
called, but he heard the call from inside himself and didn’t know where to go. Bob somehow knew that it was Grandma calling to him, but he
didn’t know how to find her.
Bob
called out to his Grandma – he wanted to see if she was as beautiful as
Grandpa said, and he wanted her to play with him, and be as much fun as Grandpa
remembered.
“Hullo,
Bob.”
Bob
jumped inside himself. Just a
moment ago, he had looked all around, and nobody was there but now, suddenly,
there was a lady standing right by his side.
Bob
looked long and hard at the beautiful stranger.
Bob felt sure this woman was his Grandmother.
She looked an awful lot like Mummy, even though there was something very
different too. Bob decided to ask
what needed to be asked straight away so they could have a cuddle, and he could
stop being a little scared.
“Hullo”,
said Bob, “Are you my Grandmother?”
The
lady knelt beside Bob and opened her arms wide, before saying, “You know I am,
Bob. I’m your Mummy’s Mummy,
and I love you with all my heart.”
Bob
could feel Grandma’s words, as well as hear them.
He felt lots of good feelings rush through him, and he decided to throw
himself into the arms of all those good feelings and give his Grandma a big hug.
Grandma
was still hugging back as she said, “It’s good to finally share time with
you, Bob. I’ve been trying so
hard for so long. But you’ve
never let me come near you before.”
Bob
had no idea what she was talking about. He’d
never heard this Grandma call his name before – he would have remembered the
music her words made. Bob would
have always welcomed this fairytale relative into his life.
Grandma
held Bob at arm’s length and started laughing.
Grandpa was right – Grandma’s laugh sounded like pretty bells ringing
a pretty song.
“I
was there when you were born, Bob. I
have been to visit you so many times. Every
night, I wait to say hullo and ask if you want to play in all the wonderful
places with all the wonderful toys I can show you.
But every night you have refused to see me.”
Bob
protested, “I haven’t refused. I want to see you. I
want to play.” Bob jumped up and
down to emphasise his point.
Grandma
laughed her pretty bell laugh and took Bob’s hand saying, “You can only see
me when you are relaxed and happy and drift gently off to sleep, Bob.
It’s your good feelings that open your inner eyes so you can see me,
and all the friends I want you to meet. I
can only visit you when you relax completely.
I love you, Bob and I try to say hullo to you every evening. But every evening you are too busy being angry to hear me.”
“I’m
not angry at you.” Bob protested
inside his mind.
Grandma’s
smile was a little sad.
“Any
anger stops you from seeing me, Bob. It’s
so sad. I want to take you to so many wonderful places.
There are so many friends and animals to play with.
There are even monsters to fight, as long as you promise not to hurt
them. There’s so much to do.
I can even teach you to fly.”
“I
love doing stuff.” Bob insisted.
“I want to do all those things. Why
don’t you come all the time?”
“I
do, Bob. But you can only see me
when you’re feeling a little sleepy. The magic is in feeling happy about being a little sleepy,
because you know I’m waiting for you. Every
evening when you come to bed, please go quickly and happily to sleep so you can
see me and tell me all the wonderful adventures you have had during the day.
Then we’ll go on wonderful night adventures together.”
“OK,
Grandma.” It sounded like a fine
idea to Bob. He would always be
having a wonderful time.
And
Bob was right. Every night, after
his full and happy days, Bob would start to feel tiredness settle all over his
body, and he knew it was time to visit Grandma in the magical land of his
dreams. Sleeping was no longer a
hardship. Sleep was now the biggest
adventure of the day. Bob was a
very happy little boy.
Waiting for Dad
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