We’ve lived in this house for nearly 18 years. I am a stay at home mom, who most of the time has been supervising at least seven children throughout it’s 3400 square feet of rooms and hallways. It is familiar territory. Sure, we’ve altered it slightly a couple of times. Once we remodeled the kitchen, which mostly created more open space. The furniture has been rearranged a few times, but I’ve never misplaced a child … here. (ask Betharoni) A year ago we remodeled the basement into a luxurious master bedroom suite and added one new little corner to one wall to enlarge the bathroom. Last night that small kink in the wall was my maze in the dark.
I woke up in the pitch black. I have stopped leaving the bathroom night light on regularly because the door is only three feet away from my bedside and the light had seemed bright some nights when I was trying to fall asleep. When I get up, I have to be careful about putting my feet down, because my dog sleeps right there. I feel for her soft fur with my toes, then identify the padded edges of her bed. This leads me to the cement floor and directly to the wall a scant three feet away with the bathroom door in it. Easy, right?
If you think it’s not a big deal to get lost in your own bedroom in the dark, you probably haven’t experienced it. There I was, my hands feeling the wall, but there was no bathroom door this time. Narnia? I began to incrementally increase my “finger sweep zone,” without success. Greg has given me ideas for how to respond to various emergencies in life, from stray dogs to being lost in Taipei. Being lost in the bedroom was not something we had covered… Weirdly, it did not occur to me to call to him. It was like I had been sucked into a void to be tested for future sci-fi combat readiness. I am glad to say I never truly panicked. I did wonder if I would be there forever. Such is the half asleep mind.
Time is not linear or constant in these situations, so you’ll just have to guess how long I was there, or agree with me that it seemed like an hour. It’s my adventure. Anyway, all of a sudden I found the sneaky corner and knew where I was, exactly! The other universe slipped away and I made it back to bed to sleep until the morning light.
Let me tell you what I have learned. First, I will be leaving the night light on. Second, there is apparently a good reason I like to park in the same place all the time. Thirdly, I am more adamant than ever about not going camping without bathroom facilities that are in an enclosed space with me! Otherwise, I might REALLY enter another dimension and you would never hear from me again!
