From Sunrise to Sunrise

Have you ever watched the sunrise twice without going to bed?  I did this the day before yesterday.  Pulling an all-nighter has always been a challenge for me, and I've only managed it three times.  And then I drop dead the next day, feeling lousy and like I have to prop open my eyelids with toothpicks.  I don't know how TJ does it regularly!!

Tuesday night I had fun helping my husband re-grout the tile in a Panda Express restaurant.  Actually, "fun" is a rather exaggerated word!  There were fun moments: planning the project and shopping at Home Depot together; arriving at the bewitching hour of midnight when all reasonable human beings are safely tucked away in bed; the heady responsibility of being entrusted with a key to a large establishment, and permission to use the soda fountain to our hearts' content; looking into my dear husband's eyes and seeing his pure delight in knowing I will be working along side of him, doing desperately hard physical labor that many women cannot do.

The rest of that night was a blur of pain and sheer mental exhaustion.  My body cried out for sleep, and my wrists ached from chiseling out hard 1/4" grout from between six inch tiles by hand.  We tried using the grinder, and it helped but billowed dust everywhere, necessitating the use of suffocating plastic sheeting to cover everything.

I passed the time by listening to the adventures of Allan Quatermain in Marie, by H. Rider Haggard.  Laughing aloud at the antics of his faithful servant Hans the Hottentot helped the tedious hours pass, and it was in a fog of drowsiness and with every muscle in our bodies aching that we watched the dawn, cold and crisp, before ever lying down to rest.

TJ grinding tile with the protective sheeting all around.

Here is the funny part: dear TJ had to work the next night doing the same thing (I slept all day and all the next night too!)  He came home at 4 a.m., chuckling with glee as he climbed into bed next to me.  "Guess what," he said.  "Look at this!"  And he shows me a video of him using a multi-tool with a grout removal bit, which merrily took down the grout in no time without damaging either the tile or the person using it.  All our pain and agony could have been avoided, and without the evil dust choking us!

Anyway it was fun, but I'm not repeating the experiment.  The hardest part was being away from my sweet little girlies.  I missed them so!  I'm so thankful for my sister Leah.  She took excellent care of the babies and I had no worries, knowing she was at home with them.  On breaks I would collapse on a chair in the restaurant and watch videos of my darlings on my phone.  They are so sweet and growing up so fast!  My little Lizzy-Bee smiles her biggest smiles and coos when she sees her big sister, and Bella loves her baby sister so much!  Today Elizabeth decided to set up a howl when I was in the shower, and before I could attend to her Bella woke up from her nap because of the noise.  She sat up in bed, her lower lip trembling.  "Baby?" she said in her soft little voice. "Crying?"  I reassured her that I was taking care of the baby, but she wanted to go see and make sure.   Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the sheer privilege and responsibility of caring for my dear little Sweet-Peas.

It is midnight and I must hit the hay.  I'm trying to make it a discipline to write something every day.  Tonight I want to thank God for the blessing of warm, soft beds to sleep on, and a good roof over our heads.