14 Hours

14 hours. Of sleep. And still I am tired. Still my hands and arms are sore. Yet I would not give up one moment, one second of the time I spend with my children and grandchildren. I planned this busy time, knowing full well it would take a lot out of me. This busy time, with four generations of family in one room, with cousins dashing off and hiding to play with one another, with babies crawling about the floor or toddling about in diapers, with toys cast askew around the room; this busy time was wonderful, a moment I would change for nothing.

I loved seeing Charlotte and Rose disappear up the stairs as soon as Meaghan's family walked in the door. Cousins should be like this; close, personal, yet profoundly different from one another. Cousins are the first and best place to learn how to deal with people close to you who are different from you. Each of them has their own way, their own personality. Both of them took off together at their first opportunity.

Quinn was still asleep when Meaghan's brood arrived. He is a small boy who needs his sleep, not yet two, not quite yet old enough to get past the exhaustion of growing. Orson, Meaghan's son, had already slept on the ride in. He was more than game for crawling around at high speed, investigating every door, checking himself out in the closet mirrors, touching everything he should not touch. He moves fast, that little one. At one point Charlotte, Rose and Orson had a crawling contest. The bigger girls may have been faster, but not by much.

All of this energy, all of this activity, it wears me out. I want it, and I want it to wear me out. While their energy consumes my energy, it is the best trade you can possibly imagine. Then, after a couple of hours of pandemonium, it ended. I had to take Mary and the kids to the ferry. Meaghan and Lewis had to take their kids home. High energy consumption has an impact on kids too, not just me.

After dropping Mary and the kids at the terminal, I headed to downtown Vancouver to have dinner with Jade and Travis. It was another terrific time, a time to talk to adults, a time to talk about my situation, their situation, the past, and the future. Oh, and it was a time for sushi, lots of sushi.

By the time I got home last night there was little left in me. After an hour or so of watching TV with Mom and Ray, something they like to do, I went to bed. It was 11:00 PM. And I slept. Until 1:00 PM today. 14 hours. Of sleep. And I am still tired. That's the price of ALS. I will gladly pay that price for more days like yesterday.