oh sweet bliss

i am a lover of sleep. not just any sleep, but in-your-pjs-under-the-covers-in-a-dark-room sleep. that is the best slumber of all. there are two things about me and sleep:

• i am a very deep sleeper
• i like to sleep completely under the covers, head and all

my mom tells me that even as a baby she would put me in the crib for bed or a nap, and when she would check on me later i would be completely under the covers. ah yes...

when i was about 10 or 11, we had a rather large thunderstorm. my dad was out of town that night, so it was just my mom with the four of us. i was sleeping soundly, unaware of the storm raging just outside my window. i started waking up because i could hear someone screaming and yelling. i didn't wake up suddenly but rather came out of sleep very slowly. i sat up in bed, removed the covers from my face (remember-completely under the covers), and looked around. the screaming was my mother. apparently we were under a tornado warning and we had to go sit in the hallway (no basement-darn). she had been trying to wake me up for a while, but i wouldn't budge. i grabbed my pillow and comforter and went to the hallway. i remember trying to go back to sleep when i heard my mom talking to my uncle on the phone. she was saying something about a window having been broken because the winds were so strong. i was immediately intrigued. i had no idea what was happening, so i rudely interrupted her and asked which window it was. like any good mother, she ignored my rudeness and kept talking. i was not put off so easily. i kept asking her over and over until she finally yelled, "YOURS, BETHANY!" what? did she mean that my window had broken? without thinking about why i was even in the hallway in the first place, i walked back to my room and stood there. good grief, my mom was right. there were pieces of glass all over my bed and the area around it. somehow in my sleep-induced fog, i had walked around the glass in my bare feet without even knowing the glass was there. i never heard the window burst over my bed. who knows how long i would have slept there, completely oblivious to the storm. but i do remember my dad mentioning that had i not been completely under the covers, the glass could have cut my face. talk about a wake-up call!

i was reminded about that incident last night. again, we were under a tornado warning and i didn't even know until my dad called at midnight to tell me. "did you hear the sirens?" he asked. um...no i didn't. i was completely out of it. i turned the t.v. on to watch the weather, and had full intentions of staying awake until the tornado warning was over. yeah, right. i fell asleep. it's a good thing nothing bad happened. i might not be here to give you all of these fascinating details.

i love God's protection.