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Midnight.
Wow.
The best part of the "day" for me. My family commitments have ended and I'm "free" until 6:45 a.m. when I get out of bed to take Sophia to the bus stop, to arrive at 7:00 a.m. It's a five-minute walk.
Until then, the night is mine. What do they call it, the "witching hour"?
From wiki:
In the Western Christian tradition, the hour between 3:00 am and 4:00 am was considered a period of peak supernatural activity – this time is also referred to as the "Devil's hour" due to it being a mocking inversion of the time in which Jesus supposedly died, which was at 3:00 p.m.
There are multiple times that can be considered the witching hour. Some claim the time is between 12:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., while others claim there is increased supernatural activity between sunset and sunrise. The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary identifies midnight as the time when witches are supposedly active.
In fact, it appears 3:00 a.m. local time is when apparitional experiences are reported and recorded, which corresponds to "peak" melatonin in the human body. So, there you have it. I'll stick with midnight.
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A Musical Interlude
Back to the witching hour.
When I was in the military, I was either at work or on-call, for three decades, available within ten minutes, 24/7. Except when on official leave.
I took that 24/7 very seriously. It's "funny." My wife never talks about it, but hardly a night ever went by that I wasn't called between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. For twenty-three of the thirty years in the service, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say I physically left home to report to work three or four times a seven-day week, between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m.
It was only the last seven years, when I was "retired on active duty," where I only worked Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
During my clinical years in the military, I covered the emergency room at least two "days" a month. That was on top of our regular schedule. We were not compensated in "time-off" for working all night.
My flight time was generally before or after clinical hours. A lot of night flights.
No complaints. Learned a lot.
But something much more important. Occasionally Sophia tells me she doesn't want to go to Jiu-Jitsu practice.
I tell her that she is one of the better students in the class, which is true, and she really doesn't need to go in but I tell her that it's important she go in to support her friends. A lot of them may not want to be there on any given day, either, but as soon as they get there, they are all smiles when they see their friends.
It's a long story "why," but in general, it was my experience that every unscheduled C-section in military hospitals was accomplished during the witching hours, between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. It's also a long story "why," but it was military policy -- at least wherever I served -- whenever there was an unscheduled C-section a pediatrician would be in attendance. I remember Grand Forks AFB. ND. It seemed there was an unscheduled C-section at least once every week -- that may be a bit of hyperbole but that's what I remember, and that's all that counts. LOL. Whatever.
Driving to the hospital during the North Dakota winter as fast as I safely could to get there within ten minutes was incredibly "irritating," for lack of a better word. Nine out of ten times, the baby was delivered fine and no pediatrician was needed.
So, I was in a pretty "miserable" mood when I walked in the emergency room door, past the ER, and down the hall to the surgical / OB unit. But invariably the nurses and nurse anesthetists had huge smiles, happy to see me arrive. It completely changed my demeanor. Invariably, there was no emergency, just a C-section that had become necessary, so we had time for a cup of coffee and telling stories while the OR suite was set up. It was a happy occasion -- a healthy baby being born -- and that's one part of my life I would never want changed.
It's the same for Sophia. Jiu-Jitsu, and all her activities are social and she just seems to light up the room when she shows up. Her best friend at JJ, Hannah, is thrilled to see her.
So far, Sophia, buys into that story and always goes to practice. It's kind of funny. On the way home from the bus stop, at least once a week, usually Friday, she will tell me she doesn't want to go. I always say, "Okay. What do you want for a snack?"
And then I tell her how much her friends will miss her if she doesn't go ...
Two points: I never tell her she has to go, and I always let her assume she's making the decision. If she ever makes the wrong decision, we have a lot of math and a lot of handwriting to practice. LOL.
She has never missed practice yet.
And I have even gotten to the part where showing up to practice is the way she shows her instructor respect and loyalty. Yes, sir, I can boogie. LOL.
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A Musical Interlude
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Lego
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