
With a 4:45AM wake-up call several days a week, I find I am struggling to stay awake after dinner when I finally plop down on the sofa to catch up with my favorite soap opera or home renovation show. Typically around 9:00 I take Jellybean out for a last call then we head upstairs to jammy up and watch some TV in bed. The routine is pretty much the same. Jellybean races up the stairs ahead of me. When I reach the top step I bend down and she gives me one of her wonderfully sloppy kisses. Then, I toss her several tiny three-calorie treats while I prepare for bed. She meets me in the bathroom and gets a nice long drink of water while I brush my teeth, etc. By the time I have turned out the bathroom light, she is pawing at the side of the bed. As I reach down to pick her up, she quickly darts away and returns with one or both of the socks I have just removed. Socks in mouth, I lift her to the bed and she settles in. I turn off the ceiling light and opt for the small lamp on the bedside table. I anticipate climbing into my wonderfully comfortable king-sized bed, pulling the covers up and catching the early news report. There’s only one problem. There appears to be a dog hogging my spot. “Uhhh, Jellybean, could you move over please? Mama is ready to crawl in bed.” Her response is to look at me with those big brown eyes and a “who me?” expression on her face. “Jellybean, move over, I’m ready to get in bed.” Nothing. She doesn’t even give an inch. So I gingerly move my way in. She is dead weight at that point, a twenty pound load of fur and cuteness overload. The last time I checked, a king-sized bed is about seventy six inches wide and should sleep two quite comfortably. Why then, am I perilously hanging on the edge of the bed with about sixteen inches of space to call my own, while she gets the remaining sixty? And why does my neck feel wet? “Jellybean, did you dry your face on my pillow after you got a drink?” “Is that you snoring already?” Oh me oh my. I have to chuckle to myself, the irony of it all.
Beverly Stiffler Smith
Children’s Author