Tick Tock

Last night I was laying in the girls' room, telling stories and just relaxing with them. Amelia has a battery operated clock that makes a very loud tick, tick, tick sound. Especially in a dark quiet room. It fills the space.

Suddenly I was transported to my grandma's house. We went to gram's a lot (once a month, at least, and it was a 5 hour drive!) when I was young, and I remember I would always sleep on the floor in her den. We would take the cushions off the couch and she would make up a bed for me there on the floor.

Grandma's house was full of knicknacks and doilies and knitted afghans and crocheted pillows. It mostly seemed cozy, and I recall falling asleep many nights with the sound of adults playing cards in the next room.

However, sometime I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. You see, Grandma also had a very, very loud clock. At least, it seemed very loud to a four or five year old girl laying on the floor in a strange place, in the dark, listening to the clock tick after everyone else went to bed and it was quiet. It wasn't a comforting or mesmerising sound. It was loud and disconcerting. But what's a young kid to do? I remember once maybe climbing in with grandma 'cause I was scared. She must have been tired because she didn't make a fuss. But mostly she seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't understand being scared by a clock, so I just laid in the room. Tick Tick Tick

Back to last night...I asked the girls if they heard the clock. Did it bother them? By the non-chalant response, I surmized the clock was not having the effect on them that it did on me.


Me at four years old. Yes...my mom made the dress. Groovy colors, eh? (Picture would have been taken in 1966)