Daily Prompt: Bedtime Stories

March 21, 2013 by TammyeHoney 13 Comments

by michelle w. on March 21, 2013

What was your favorite book as a child? Did it influence the person you are now?

Nancy Drew Mysteries are the first series of books that I read as a child and loved.

http://www.amazon.com/Nancy-Drew-Complete-Books-1-64/dp/0448445867/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363882354&sr=1-1&keywords=nancy+drew+mysteries+complete+set

I was not fortunate as a young child to have someone to read to me books at night before I went to sleep.

I did read to my daughters as they were growing up. Primarily due to the fact that it was something that I felt was important in their lives.

Although this prompt is supposed to be about bedtime stories, I am taking a flip on it. After my daughters baths were finished at night and they were read their stories and tucked into bed I would receive a knock at the door just like clockwork. It would be my father in-law. The two girls would be standing at the top of the stairs, coats on with their feety jammies and ready, something that took forever any other time. I would laugh, trying to look stern and say, “Not too much sweets, they just brushed their teeth”. It was a regular routine that we had.

He would bring them home after taking them for a ride to a local store to get a small ice cream and bring them back. He took them upstairs, brushed their teeth, and tucked them back into bed. That was his time with them. It was special to him.

When my oldest had been a baby she had been very cranky and we first lived in a tiny apartment where the walls were very thin while our other apartment was being remodeled for us to move into. The neighbors were very cranky also and would bang on the walls and yell each time she even whimpered. Her wake up time was between 2 AM to 4 AM every day where nothing made her happy.

My father in-law would meet me every morning at the door, regardless of what the weather and take her for a ride as this child never slept. She was up constantly. That was my sleep time. As he would place her into the car, she would go right to sleep. If anyone else tried to do that same thing she would scream. The bond began.

My father in-law passed away last night. The bond between my children and him was a strong one. They loved their grandmother who passed away a few years ago also. She was very close to them also, but not as close as grandpa. Their time with him was incredible.

The times he spent with them was priceless and so incredible of an influence in their lives. Something that they could never have received from a book.

For all of the nights that he stopped by and said can I take them, I am so glad that I said yes now…

As I sit here wiping back the tears from my eyes to write this, I am sad at the loss both for my children and society. I am happy to have known him. He was like a father to me. He was unique in his own way. He showed love in different forms to different people.

I am sad that I will not be at the funeral in Herkimer, New York. Yet I sit here and cry at his passing as if I were there. I am glad that you passed on peacefully. I am glad that you are now with Betty B, happy once again. The memories that you left behind, although we are sad now, we can laugh and enjoy your legacy.

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Author: TammyeHoney

I am about Blogging various information. If you check, I have several sites. Everything from food to funny with a few product lines in between. I am a Daily Prompt Blogger and an A-Z prompt blogger as well. Thank you for checking out my site. I hope you enjoy. I started this for cooking and my corn allergy and then it grew...