The Night Shift is Never Over

The Night Shift is NEVER out of your system. It may go into remission like some kind of cancer but it is never really gone, really.

I worked nights for Big P. Co. for 6 years. I met a few nice people at work but it killed any chance of a normal life, any chance to party -- this is important when you're in your 20s and single, any chance to meet decent men who work regular hours. Well the night shift cancer is back. I haven't been getting to sleep until the wee hours of the morning (or the wee wee hours if you're my son).

It's not for lack of trying at times. I will go to bed and just lie there thinking, "Ok…NOW!" and it never works I'm still awake. Perhaps it's the enormous stress at work, or the list of things going through my head that need to be done. It may even be a song that gets stuck there, "La Dee Da Dee Dum, La Dee Da Dee Dum, What's the Name of that Song?" (To anyone reading this who may have a toddler who has seen the Sesame Street video "What's the Name of that Song?" my apologies I'm sure I have infected your brain with my tune virus.)

Or like tonight perhaps its the night shift. In the past 2 days I have had more energy and have gotten more done than in the past 2 months. Last night it was unpacking some art supplies and other boxes in the office whose contents could easily be put away. 23, 24, 25. The boxes just never seem to end.

Tonight it was cleaning up the utility room. I have been tripping over bottles of detergent and cleaning products as well as misc construction supplies since I moved in -- it's got to stop! After the stuff on the floor was cleared out I sanded the puttied patches on the walls, installed a couple of brackets with hooks on the end so I can have a drying rod when I need it. I even found a piece of metal pipe in the aforementioned construction supplies that is just the right size. I vacuumed the room but stopped short of washing the walls and scrubbing the floor. (I had to patch a few more nail or other holes, things hidden by the junk, so either activity would be a waste of time, besides I have to leave something for a Saturday night.) I also did a load of laundry and changed the sheets on the guest bed (which has to be done in the dark and in silence as the bed is in my son's room and he is asleep).

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the Night Shift doesn't begin until after 9pm when my son finally goes to bed/sleep. That means that between this blog and the work I'm getting done it's often 1 or 2 am before I doze off. It sucks not getting any sleep (my alarm clock says "Mommy" at about 6:30 every morning) but the high of accomplishing something important carries me through until I fully wake up at 2 or 3 pm.

Time for the cute kid stories…

Every week, either Friday after work or Saturday morning, E and I go to the library to get new videos for the week. You can check out 7 total so we get several for him and one for me. Last weekend we exchanged 2 Bear in the Big Blue House, 2 Sesame Steet and 1 Once Upon a Potty for 3 Wiggles and 2 Sesame Street. We went to the library tonight after a rare stop and Mickey Ds for a "hammer cheeeez". He was very excited about going to the library and didn't want to get out of the car to go eat, he kept repeating a word I couldn't understand. It finally dawned on me that he was saying "Library". I told him to call the library the "Book House" so that I could understand him but that he could still try to say that mouthful of a word any time.

It's never ceases to amaze me the things that come out of his mouth. He has a wonderful vocabulary for a 21 month old and the parents of other kids at his daycare center are shocked that he talks let alone so much and so well. He generally speaks in phrases and occassionally will utter a complete sentence -- "I don't want it" "I don't like it". One day last week we were driving home from daycare and out of the blue and as clear as a bell he said, "Mommy, Jesus died for me." I was shocked at the clarity of each word. I have been wondering ever since if he has any idea what those words mean literally or what they mean for his life as a Catholic or a Christian.