Golden Slumbers

Ever have one of the those really, really good sleeps? The kind that's so wonderful you don't want to leave your bed? It's like reading a great book - you can't stop reading it but you don't want it to end.

I had a good sleep like that last night, full of weird, funny dreams. Or, maybe they were all separate dreams that I've just confused together, I'm not sure. I have no idea how dreams work. It doesn't matter - the sleep was so good and it had been a while since I slept so well!

This past weekend my daughter had a dance competition about 2 hours away. I had to get her there by 8 am on Saturday so we got up early! Luckily, friends of ours offered to have my son, Jorge, sleep over on Friday night so he wouldn't be dragged to the competition. My husband, Brian, was away for the weekend. Since it was just the two of us on Friday night, I let Clara sleep in my bed. No matter how big a bed it is (and I have a king sized bed), Clara manages to find her way over to me and then proceeds to sleep on top of me. It's times like these that I can't wait for her to start NOT wanting to be around me.

This was Friday night after Thursday night cocktails. Okay, maybe I should not have stayed up so late on Thursday but I go into rehearsals this week so it was our last cocktail night for a while.

Despite the lack of sleep on my part, I did manage to get us to the competition on time on Saturday. I can't understand why dance companies want to attend these competitions but I try not to ask too many questions. I will say that some of the moms at these competitions scare me! I saw moms with sequined, pink jackets that said "[Name of Studio] Mom." One sweatshirt read, "Dance Mama," and had a picture of the woman's daughter on it. I'm all for supporting my kids and their activities--(hey, I got up at 5:30 am to drive 2 hours didn't I?) I have a NAME! Also, between us, I think Clara needs a shirt that reads, "Kate Hanley's daughter." I mean, why not? Her time will come!

Well, that competition took all day and I still can't figure out how they judge it and I'm not really sure I want to know. Don't get me started on 8 year olds shaking their booties all over the place. On Saturday night I tried to get the kids in bed early but it was a struggle:

"It's the weekend! We always stay up late!"

"But you've been up since 5:30 am!"

"So, I'm not tired"

Finally, I resorted to: "You're going to bed at 9 pm and if you argue your bedtime will be 7 pm for the rest of the week." Not my finest parenting moment but I was tired. Of course, then I couldn't sleep because I was so happy to be alone, I got restless: Hey, no one needs me to do anything, I can do whatever I want. Does that ever happen to you?

Sunday morning, I planned to sleep in but my daughter surprised me at 8 am with breakfast in bed. Pancakes and coffee that she made all by herself and it was delicious! So how could I be mad about getting up early?

Luckily, I got a short nap in while watching a French flick in the afternoon and then a long and glorious sleep that night. As my grandmother always said, "One good nap leads to another."

It's a great start to my week: I begin rehearsals tomorrow for Sunday in the Park with George; a Sondheim musical about Georges Serrault's "Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte." I'm nervous because it's only my second big musical and excited for the challenge. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime Happy Slumbers!