Recently, I went down to the basement to get my workout clothes out of the dryer. Our youngest son, who has recently moved back home (temporarily we hope), was catching some zzzs on the couch. He was recovering from a long shift on one of his two jobs. As he snoozed, I heard a podcast playing on his phone. Some things never change.
I was immediately reminded of what I always called the Harry Potter Lullaby. Since my wife is a TV Sleeper, early on my sons developed the habit of falling asleep while listening to background noise as well. They would listen to the soothing sounds of Jim Dale, as he recited one of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s greatest adventures. Or, maybe it would be Artemis Fowl or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This would provide the necessary white noise as they drifted off to sleep.
For 19 years, I worked afternoons and my wife worked days. When I arrived home after midnight, odds were good that Harry would be playing on one or more MP3 CDs, my wife would have the TV going, or both. I fall asleep quickly, but I am a light sleeper. I would carefully turn off all of the CD players and TV, then gingerly crawl into bed before anyone realized the background noise had stopped. It’s the kind of ritual that’s a pain in the butt at the time, but when I look back on it now, I kind of miss it. Kind of.
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