Time progressed slowly when I was young, as some of us may recall. We would remember our going to bed and saying “good night” to our parents or guardian. I remember that my bed was tucked in so tightly with sheets and blankets I could hardly get into it. I know now beds were prepared this way in the era I had grown up in. Or, was there some other reason that I did not know about?
During the quiet of the night while the rest of my family were asleep, I would pull the top sheet and the blankets out from the bottom of the mattress. After being free from my tightly tucked bed, I would then go to the bottom of my bed head first, and see if I could turn around in a circle underneath the bed linen and blankets without going over the edge of the mattress. Every morning my sheets and blankets were on the floor. It was thought by my parents that I had nightmares.
Looking back it doesn’t seem long before I became a young man and left home. This was not easy. I had thought that I could change a lot of things in my life and I would be free; just like I was free from the tight bedding at home. It wasn’t long before I bought myself a digital clock and a quilt. My sleep became very restful because of my very own quiet clock, and a quilt.
One night, years later, I had an experience which I will never forget. It was a cold night and was in bed with my new wife.
(You know what’s coming don’t you. Well, you can just wait for the rest of the story!)
Thinking I was under the warm quilt I woke up very cold. Weary eyed, I looked over to the other side of the bed to find my honey rolled up in the quilt. I looked down at myself thinking that there maybe something over me, but shivering away there was nothing to be seen.
Not being able to move the quilt, “Are you quite warm, Hon?” I asked in a shivering voice.
“Yes.”
There was a silence for a while, when a question came. “Have you put the garbage out?”
“No! I am not going out in the cold. I am cold enough without the quilt over me.”
“Ok.”
At this point I had three choices. The first choice was to get angry and pull the quilt off her. The second was to wake her up, which I didn’t have heart to do, or third, was to speak with her in the morning. However, for the night, I laid there like a good husband.
Folding my arms and curling up trying to keep warm, I dozed in and out of sleep for the rest of the night. I woke up before her at day break.
(Now you are starting to get interested aren’t you?)
I got dressed into some warm clothes, and made myself a cup of coffee. While sitting drinking it in the kitchen my Hon woke up and came in.
My voice cracked. “Did you have a good sleep Hon?”
“Yes, I did. What about you?”
“No I didn’t; you had the quilt all night.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I did; I asked if you were warm enough and you said ‘yes’, and then you asked if I put the garbage out.”
At this point my loving husband attitude had gone and she noticed it.
(I have your attention now!)
Well the “debate” went back and forth of the occurrences through the night as you may imagine. Then, she said something that changed the situation around.
“I honestly don’t remember talking to you, or asking you about the garbage.”
Realizing what had happened, I knew that it was time to reconcile with her. She was so upset I knew that my tender loving care had to come back.
It was a wonderful experience to forgive each other, and we still laugh at this experience we had that night.
I will always remember the joys we had when we were growing up and the well tucked in nights that we once enjoyed and we will always cherish the experiences of marriage as we grow to be more like Christ, forgiving one another.
(What happens with our quilt now? Not telling!)
