Midnight Lesson in Thankfulness

My dreams were invaded last night by a piercing, intermittent beeping.  Every thirty seconds or so, the plot of my dream would be altered by a beep, until finally my brain thought, "Hey, I wonder if that beeping is happening in real life?!"  So I woke up and laid there with my ears open, praying that it had only been my dream.  But, no, the beep shrilled again.  And it was 4:30 in the morning.

Normally this would not be a problem.  I would usually just nudge Adel awake and he would take care of this sort of thing.  Trouble is, Adel is out of town this week.  Naturally, I called him, hoping he would at least be able to tell me what to do, but there was no answer.  I thought about calling my dad, but I figured the benefit of getting his advice might not outweigh the price of waking up my mom in a panic.  I thought about calling my neighbor Tony, but I figured after one 4:30AM phone call over something so silly, they would probably never speak to me again.  Okay, I reasoned, I can call someone for help.  But let me at least try to solve the problem myself first.  This is a major step forward for me, because usually at 4:30 in the morning, all I'm able to think is grog.  Also, because I usually prefer not to have to do anything for myself if I don't have to.

After assessing the situation, it was the smoke detector in my room that was beeping, but the one near the stairs was not.  So, I grabbed a sweater and went out into the cold garage to get the ladder.  I didn't really know what I was going to do once I got it, but it seemed like at least getting close to the smoke detector was a good first step.  I figured I could at the very least ask the smoke detector to kindly be quiet.  Now, our ladder must be at least eight times my weight, if not more, and it was no small task getting it through the house, not to mention the number of times it crashed into the walls and door frames.  I finally got the ladder into place, when I realized that there was a good chance this ladder might not be tall enough.  But, as it is all we have, I decided to at least give it a try.  

So there I was, standing on the second-to-last rung of a very tall ladder, praying that I would not get vertigo, reaching my hand as high as I could over my head to see if I could figure out how to make my smoke detector stop beeping and at the same time trying not to get myself killed.  I really didn't know what I should do.  I really didn't know why the smoke detector was beeping in the first place.  But when I looked up, I noticed a button.  And so I pushed it.

I still don't know what the particular function of that button is supposed to be, but it set of a series of rapid-fire beeps communicating back and forth between my bedroom smoke detector and the one on the stairs that were louder and more annoying than the original intermittent beep.  All the while, I was regretting my decision, and trying to reverse the affects by pushing the button again and again and mumbling, "No, no, no, no!"  Finally, for whatever reason, the beeping stopped.  I waited for another minute and there was only silence.  So I did what any responsible adult would have done.  I left the ladder there in the bedroom doorway and went back to bed.

Now, let it be known that during this whole time I was inwardly cursing Adel for not being home.  I was cursing the smoke detector manufacturers for creating that maniacal beep.  I was cursing myself for letting Isaac sleep in my room where surely any minute he would wake up dramatically from all the beeping and banging that was going on.  But, after I was again snug in my bed, I remembered that lately I am trying to learn to have an attitude of gratitude.  So I decided to fall asleep thinking about what there was to be thankful for in the situation.  Upon reflection, I realized I am thankful that:

• Adel is such a good husband who always takes care of me (so much so that when he is gone during a crisis, he is greatly missed)
• my kids, in fact, did not wake up through all the noise
• I did not fall to my death while reaching so high on the ladder
• even though the smoke detector seems to be going senile, I have this house and my family that are so worth protecting
• the smoke detector did finally stop beeping
• Adel comes home tomorrow!
• God loves me enough to teach and grow me even at 4:30 in the morning