Long Day's Journey

The title of the Eugene O'Neill play - "A Long Day's Journey Into Night" really strikes me tonight as a good way to describe my day today! Because, it was truly a long day for me as I "journeyed" towards my night!

My long day began last night - or rather in the middle of the night about when I was seriously giving thought to going to bed but those plans were scratched by my granddaughter. Seems that Miss Maya woke up about 2:30 or 3 a.m. - somewhere around that time - and was laboring under the mistaken impression that it was time for her to "rise and shine." And since I was the one still up and at least semi-awake at the the time, it fell to me to stay awake with her then and try to coax her into laying down on the sofa with Grammy in hopes she would fall back to sleep.

Then about 45 minutes later, her little brother, Kurtis, decided to join her in her wide awake state only this time, the kids' mother was up with him while I was still trying to convince Maya why she should go back to sleep or to bed. Finally, about 5 a.m. or so, Mandy did convince Maya to go back upstairs to her bed, although she was not very pleased once she landed back in her crib. Mandy just politely closed her door and let her scream and after about 10-15 minutes, she did then bite the dust.

But by then I was wide awake and spent my timeplaying solitaire on the computer till about 7 a.m., when Mandy's husband got up and came down to get ready to go into work today. So I finally crashed on the sofa at about 7:30 a.m or there about and slept till around 10 a.m. when Mandy and Kurtis got up. Mandy had to run some errands in town so she was kind enough to take Kurtis with her so in my semi-awake state then I only had to deal with Miss Maya who didn't wake up then till about 11:30. When Mandy came home about 1 p.m., I headed off to my bed for a nap because I knew I had to be able to stay awake all evening tonight!

The reason being we - Mandy, the two little ones and I - were going down to Bellefonte to attend a dinner and awards ceremony for the cubs scouts and webelos down in that vicinity where my grandson Alex is a webelo and his father (my soon-to-be-ex-son-in-law) is leader for Alex's troop or pack or whatever it is called.

The dinner was very nice - very good too! Ham, mashed potatoes (and not the instant type either I might add), baked beans, corn, applesauce, tossed salad and lots and lots of really good desserts too!

The kids in the various cub scout and webelos dens were honored for some achievements and my grandson, I'm really proud to say, took first prize in the contest for selling the most popcorn to benefit the troop! His prize - a really nifty Coleman camping lantern just the right size and such for a young boy his age to have on a camping trip! He looked so dapper too first as he stood at attention when the cub scouts brought in the flags and we did the pledge to the flag and then, when his name was called as the first place winner in the contest and he had to go up front and get his prize, he did it with a good mix of pride and humility too! He's really such a terrific young fellow and yes indeed, Grammy J is very, VERY proud of him!

After dinner, we had to run down to State College to the Walmart there and pick up a few items we needed rather than put it off to tomorrow to do that. First off, Mandy has to work tomorrow and secondly, the weather forecast is not a very pleasant one either as they are calling for a "wintry mix" to come through overnight tonight and last most of the day tomorrow. That will consist of the three lovely elements to make a perfectly miserable day - snow accumulations, sleet and yes, freezing rain! Wonderful, wonderful!

While Mandy was roaming at Walmart with Maya, my older daughter, her fiance, the baby and I were traipsing through the Barnes and Noble store and I managed to find a nice buy for myself - the book "Coal Run" by Tawni O'Dell. I'd read her first book "Back Roads" when it (and she) appeared on the Oprah Book Club and really had enjoyed her writing so I was quite pleased to find this book in a very affordable paperback edition tonight! This story - "Coal Run" - like "Back Roads" is set in a coal mining town someplace in Pennsylvania which gives her work a lot of appeal to me plus the fact Ms. O'Dell is now residing "locally" too - in State College so it's kind of special then to read a book done by someone who lives fairly close to my home ya know!

Anyway, by the time we finally got back home, it was after 11 p.m., both kids were totally worn out and I was pretty doggone close to that status myself! But, because of my sleep being all messed up earlier today, it had interferred with my e-mailing and my blogging things so I decided I would try to catch up on reading my favorites blogs and then do my post for the day and go to bed.

I made it through just over half of the blogs I normally read each day and decided to change my plan of attack and skip the rest of the reading tonight, do my posting and surprise, surprise, then go to bed before 2;30 a.m.!

And according to my computer clock, which says it is now 2:05 a.m., I'm moving along a bit ahead of schedule so if I pick up and flop my fat self in bed as soon as I close out this post, I might even manage to be asleep too by 2:30 a.m.!

Imagine that! See, and you thought miracles don't happen, didn't you?

It just might be a miracle for me to achieve that but today was really a very long journey to get to saying good night!