The Best

What is the best 15 minutes of your day?

Well, for me, it’s certainly not the first 15 minutes of the day! And it’s not the 15 minutes before I get off work, although that might be a close second.

I can only account for about 7 of my favorite 15 minutes of the day. They begin as I crawl into bed- first I get all of my pillows in their various configurations, a sad acknowledgement of my age I guess. Once I lay down and get perfectly situated, I pull the quilt over me. I decided a long time ago that I want to, whenever possible, fall asleep smiling. I’ve made that my habit, and the smile sets in just about the time I get that quilt tucked in all around me. I like to picture each of my family members sleeping in their little beds at college and home and DH hard at work. That’s usually about as far as I can remember, with the next 8 minutes filled with a slow, slow falling into some carefree world.

When the girls were little, they had a tape of lullabies that they fell asleep to every night. We had a ton of bedtime rituals, and one was that I would stay with them until they fell asleep, the two of them nestled side by side in their double bed. Each of us had a favorite song on that tape- S’s was Child of Mine by Carol King (which we played at her adoption party, even though she was 12 by that itme!), K’s was If I Didn’t have You, also by Carol King. MINE was Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Dreamland. I think I like it because it reminds of my favorite part of the day. What’s yours?

Sun goes down and says goodnight
Pull your covers up real tight
By your bed we’ll leave a light
To guide you off to dreamland
Your pillows soft your bed is warm
Your eyes are tired when day is done
One more kiss and you’ll be gone
On your way to dreamland
Every sleepy boy and girl
In every bed around the world
Can hear the stars up in the sky
Whispering a lullaby
Who knows where you’ll fly away
Winging past the light of day
The man in the moon and the milky way
Welcome you to dreamland
Every sleepy boy and girl
In every bed around the world
Can hear the stars up in the sky
Whispering a lullaby
Who knows where you’ll fly away
Winging past the light of day
The man in the moon and the milky way
Welcome you to dreamland