I think I’ve mentioned before that
Melinda adheres to the old saying “early to bed, early to rise”. She is also
extremely sensitive to noise and cannot sleep with lights on. I understand that
last one because I found it difficult to sleep with lights on too.
Nobody else in the family goes
to bed before ten so when she does, we shut off as many lights as possible,
shut our doors, and limit the noise we make. We don’t do this merely to be nice
to her. We do it to not “poke the bear”. She doesn’t hit, but she can completely
chastise you if you wake her up. Let me tell you, you know you’ve been chewed
out even if all she does and glare and slam a door.
Also, because of her noise
sensitivity and household arguments about what people were watching/listening
to, we mandated that everyone must listen with headphones unless everyone else
in hearing range agreed with whatever was being played, be it a song, show, or
game. With Melinda, hearing range includes anywhere within our house, even with
the doors closed.
These two traits are indications
of her neurodiversity.
Royce is not nearly as sensitive
to sound, and he prefers to be awake at night. At night, he will
generally run in the backyard. He also insists on long-sleeved shirts and long
pants. His favorite color is black.
These are indications of his neurodiversity.
One thing about me is I cannot
sleep with the light on. If Jerry is still awake when I go to bed, I put on my
sleep mask. I also cannot have lights suddenly turned on, even if I am awake at
the time. It’ll give me a headache. Yes, I have yelled at more than one family
member because they flipped on a light without warning me. Usually Jerry.
I should also add that if Jerry
goes to sleep before I do, I generally turn out any lights I don’t need so the
room is dark enough to sleep. If I go to bed first, I wear my sleep mask.
So now the event of a few days
ago.
It was later in the evening.
Melinda was long since in bed. I couldn’t hear Royce running in the backyard or
moving about in the front room. I assumed he was at least on his tech, if not asleep
too. Jerry was snoring beside me. Not being tired yet, I decided to watch an
episode of a show I like online.
With that in mind, I logged onto
my computer and the necessary site. I then made sure the lights were all out
and I had my headphones on.
My nice over-the-ear headphones
that make it somewhere between difficult and impossible for me to hear outside
noises. Headphones that I often have off of one ear during the day if I’m
listening to something, so I don’t miss anything.
Now, the show I chose to watch
sitting in a dark room with all other sounds cut off was a crime drama. I can
feel Jerry sleeping beside me, know Melinda’s asleep, and cannot hear if Royce
is even awake. Though, since I hadn’t heard Royce before I put them on, I
assume I’m the only one up.
Just as I get to a rather tense
scene. You know the ones where the music lets you know something scary is going
to happen. Someone touched my left hand.
I kid you not. I jumped. Jerry
is on my right. I look up and cannot see anyone in the dark room. I know from
experience throwing my headphones off will take my glasses with it and I was positive
I didn’t want to be blind at that moment. With one hand I shoved my headphones
off an ear while with the other I reached for my reading light.
Taking the headphones off allowed
me to hear Royce calling me. Turning on my light helped me to see him in all
his dark clothes.
And yes, he did tell me he tried
a couple of times to get my attention before he touched me. But he did not yell
so as not to incur Melinda’s wrath and he did not turn on the light not wanting
me to yell at him. Probably because my yelling would have invoked Melinda’s ire.
She’d also be intelligent enough to figure out he was the one who started it.
In other words, he would have gotten it twice.
I’d tell you why he needed my
attention at that hour but as I said it was a few days ago and I honestly can’t
remember.
Smile. Make the day a brighter
day.
