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second sleepOver.     They arrived at noon,  Alyssia had a dental appointment in Chico at 1.    Between noon and "bedtime",  we did a thousand things.   small things.    ordinary.    nothing amazing.    but a Thousand.   She just turned 4.   Still is  comforted by a "sippy" of milk at bedtime…..which,  at home,  she  now  gets for herSelf.     So,  we watched as dark came…sitting outSide,  we watched and listened as Talkie went to bed…going foot by foot up and over the Tree Branches to her highest twigs and settling there,  all the while talking to herSelf.  it got darker and the bats came,  swooping.   Quieter and Quieter and she missed her Mom.   Her house,  where there are electric lights and street lights and a constant small flow of commotion on her street…people,  moving,  doing things.  Dogs barking.  Cars.   Here,  only DARK.   She missed her Mom.   But she said it was her bedtime.   I kept saying well,  maybe soon.   But it became clear that it was that Sippy thing of Milk she was needing….that signals the end of a day's worth of doings.   So we filled the thing,  chose our pillows,  settled in.   Holding hands.  and  it wasn't long at all and the Milk was gone and she still Missed her Mother and it was still Very Dark.   Very Dark.  and Very Quiet.  And we were both pretty wide eyed.

So i said…OK.  Let's Go. and got up and got  out the headlamps that we had remembered about and ordered from our Auntie Amazon a week or so ago,  and i asked her if she was ok with it and she had no answer so i said OK Let's Go and we set out.  She said she was afraid,  and got her long curved stick from earlier in the day   but then she kind of likes Drama,  so i said well lets just go anyway and see what happens and the first thing we saw were two moon eyes per Goat GLOWING where they had settled in to lie in the road for the night,  all those glowing moon eyes and then Jack's and then on,  Tay running ahead,  and more moon eyes in the brush that turned out to be Puppy and we talked about how night is Puppy's favorite time of all and as we walked she waved her long curved stick and this pic is of that.   down and down to the end of the road where we sat and turned off our headlamps and just were there…in complete Dark ness.    

 

 

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13 responses to “dark”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    love how your words are wrapped in the velvet cloak of night time

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  2. Liz A Avatar

    we haven’t yet had the first sleepover with Parker … missing her mom is very much a thing right now … there’s no rush, but I will remember your way of distracting by doing …
    love the slice of light in your picture … and the determined set of E’s shoulders

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  3. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Being away from home and mom is hard for a four year old … but you turned it into an adventure. If I ever find myself in all that darkness I hope it’s with you.

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  4. jude Avatar

    great pic, we have those headlamps, from the old place, when we had to go out in the nighttime to get firewood or when the power went off but now to look for owls and dump the compost late at night or walk down the road in, in case we need to.
    I remember loving when the power went down, the dark.
    But then I remember when I first moved from NYC to the woods. It was spooky. For about a night or 2. So quiet it kept me awake. And I was 30.

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  5. dee Avatar

    What a lucky child!

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  6. Faith Avatar

    She’s a brave, adventurous girl! Going out into the dark and all those eyes! Even with a headlamp, a stick, and Old Nana, it can be scary. And that made me think–what a wonderful Old Nana! I cannot imagine my grandmother tolerating, much less encouraging, such an adventure.

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  7. grace Forrest Avatar

    the velvet cloak of night..how much i
    love
    the velvet cloak of night

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    those moments…the small voice….i miss my mom….and i said yes. and we went to swing, or, to make a tuna sandwich. and time passed. Mom came. All was well. When she left, she said
    i will never come for a sleep over again. I said…i hope you change your mind. I thought it was great. She studied my face.
    her shoulders….her El Salvadoran self is coming into play.

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  9. grace Forrest Avatar

    i hope too, Tina, cause i love. LOVE so much, that dark

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar

    somehow forgot the headlamps until i thought of them re Emrie and Learning Night
    but they are a GREAT remembering…for incase of need for a night evacuation…or…we could have used them well when Caroline gave birth….hands are FREE
    N Mex was dark. i was so relieved to find the Hill dark.
    i need it.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    what a lucky old nana

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. i am so excited to be learning along with her. We live in this time. It’s different. and it is Our Time. Now.
    i will hear about that night from Alyssia. Emrie will tell her how it was. What she thought/felt. i don’t really know yet.

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  13. Deb G Avatar

    Thinking about this, going out into the dark.

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