How to Wake Up in the Morning

My alarm goes off a few minutes after 6. Though I'm often tired in the morning, today I am awake and alert almost immediately. I reach over and turn the alarm off, switch on my bedside lamp and take another look at the clock before climbing out of bed and quickly slipping into my clothes. I open the door to my basement room a few inches; the rest of the house is still and quiet. Returning to bed, I pick up my Bible and notebook and settle cross-legged near my pillow. I quickly catch up in my notebook to where I am in my Bible reading. It's just after 6:10 now. I listen carefully; still quiet. I open to Psalm 90 and start to read.

For some reason it's hard to concentrate today. Soon I hear a few noises. Still dark, but someone else is awake in the house. I think they're coming down the stairs to the basement. I listen carefully; the sounds die down. I read a few more verses, then intently scan the dark sliver on the other side of my partly-opened door; can't see a thing. The thought flits by that of course I won't be able to see anything--the light in my room puts the advantage of visibility completely on their side. (Whoever "they" are.) Soon the noises outside my room return; someone is trying to be very quiet, and it's almost working. They just aren't as quiet as the intense silence of the early morning. I pull the pillows on my bed closer, piling them between me and the door. It is very difficult to read coherently under such circumstances. I set down my Bible and notebook and focus on the door. Still can't see a thing, but there are certainly people out there. They're coming closer; I think that whoever it is must be slipping along the wall to avoid detection. I silently pick up a pillow and get up on my knees. A whisper outside: "Are you ready?" and the door flies open. Four boys of assorted sizes, in pajamas, armed with pillows, come charging towards my bed.


No, this isn't a dream or a crazy attempt at children's fiction. Nor it is common practice to schedule early-morning pillowfights with the kids you babysat the night before, but who would have any fun memories if all we did was stick with standard procedure? What happened was this: I was babysitting some good friends last Thursday night. After the boys' baseball practice we came home and had quite a late dinner, but we managed to finish in time for a few rounds of hide-and-go-seek in the dark before bed. It's a rousing game! Wild chases and stumbles are part of the territory--just watch that the little ones don't get underfoot. Some people delight in the chase while others hide silently or slip through the darkness until they're the last ones still un-tagged. (I nearly got a basket of laundry dumped on me by one such hider.)

After pushing the game as close as feasible to the latest version of bedtime that we could find, I face the challenge of getting everyone settled down enough to sleep. As I am sitting in the kid's room reading aloud and talking with them, I find myself wishing for some reason that we could have a pillowfight. No, we decide quickly, it's really too late. Wouldn't help us settle down, anyway. But why not have it in the morning? (I must take full responsibility for this insane idea.) After a bit of discussion we decide to have the fight in my room in the basement because it will be less audible to the parents and anyone else wanting to sleep in. I tell them that no earlier than 6:10 may they be in my room and remind them to be extra-quiet coming downstairs in the morning. With a smile they agree. They finally calm down enough for me to leave their bedroom; by now it's quite late.

After carting a load of extra pillows from the upstairs spare bedroom to my room downstairs, I settle down with my book and blanket before the wood-burning stove to wait for the parents and ponder upon what I've done. Was that just a little bit overboard, Rachel? A pillowfight at 6:15 in the morning after a late night? Due to the late bedtime we turn off the alarm in the kids' room; I'm not sure if they will even wake up in time, or if the notion will have the same appeal in the morning that it did at night. The parents hear of what's going on and kindly say nothing negative, though I sorta wonder what they're thinking. I finally get to bed a few minutes after midnight, after making double-sure that my alarm is set for 6:05 the next morning. That's not a very long night, but I need to be up in the morning just in case...if they don't come, I can always use the time to get ahead on my Bible reading.

Well, they came--four of them, aged 13 down to 4, pillows in hand and the younger ones with more pillows stuffed up their shirts. (Defensive armor, I guess.) And we had a good rousing pillowfight, with only a couple of glitches--one about 5 pillows into the fight when the bedside lamp suddenly went out, plunging us into darkness and silence (I'd forgotten to pillow-proof the area; we quickly switched to overhead lighting, fixed the lamp, and put it under the nightstand) and another during which I removed my poor Bible and notebook to safety. We fought up and down the room, over and around the bed, laughing and flinging and fencing with pillows. After about 15 minutes of this I am breathless--it really is a good way to get exercise! The little people seem capable of pillowfighting forever, but the big people decide to call a halt after one more round. By now it's about 6:30 and we are most throughly awake. Such a fun morning, though I wouldn't want to do it all the time...(sisters and roommates take note!) I hereby and now do recommend pre-scheduled pillowfights as a way to wake up in time, wake up thoroughly, and stay that way. It works!