A Sleeper Hit

I’m writing this week’s column in a state of near-exhaustion, having survived an event this weekend that required stamina, energy and, at times, sheer determination just to power through. Not that you ever really know how an activity like this will pan out until you actually do it, but it is one of those things that you always wonder if you have trained for enough, and in retrospect, wonder if you could have prepared  for it a little differently or a little better.

I’m not referring to a marathon or some sort of athletic feat. What I’m talking about is even more physically challenging: This weekend we hosted my daughter’s first-ever sleepover.

It all started when our plans to go to Virginia Beach to celebrate Christmas with my mom and her husband were postponed for the second time. (We were originally scheduled to go the day after Christmas when a record-breaking snowstorm blanketed and shut down the entire Hampton Roads area. We rescheduled for this past weekend, but my mom got very sick with the flu and had to cancel. At this rate, we will very likely be exchanging Arbor Day presents. But I digress.)

To appease my very disappointed 5-year-old, we agreed to let her extend a play date she had with a boy from her school into a sleepover.

As someone who has never known a story that could not benefit from a bit of embellishment, please understand that the following events occurred exactly as I am reporting them:

There were pillow fights. There was running through the house, accompanied by screaming. There was pink paint and glitter coating the laundry room floor after “craft time.” And at one point, shortly after I found them lounging on the bed upstairs sucking on candy canes of unknown origin, they were actually POURING SUGAR FROM THE SUGAR BOWL STRAIGHT INTO THEIR MOUTHS.  

Now, my college years certainly did not lack for fun, but even my 20-year-old self would have been somewhat in awe of the party atmosphere these two created.

As a couple of parents who are used to having one child in the house (and a girl at that – there is a difference), this was a bit of a deviation from our norm. And by “a bit of a deviation,” I mean I quickly learned to mainline Excedrin.

Finally, at about 10 p.m., after they had played together for a solid seven hours, they finally showed some signs of winding down. So, I laid down between them on the air mattress we had set up in the play room to read some bedtime stories. As I was reading, they both snuggled into me and fell asleep. It was in that moment that I realized how much it was worth it and could not wait to plan the next sleepover.

For 2015.