I work the grave yard shift. Those of us that work it consider ourselves a rare breed. We eat hamburgers or steak at 7:00 in the morning. We sit in the bars and have that first cold beer and watch the morning rush of traffic go by. There are many people who don't know that there are some bars that open at 6:00 a.m.

We sometimes have a hard time having a social life because most of our waking hours are the opposite of everyone else. We usually bounce from third shift hours back to first on the weekends so that we can spend time with our families.

Most of us get around 6 or 7 hours of sleep from Thursday afternoon when we get up, until Saturday night because we try to stay up all day when we get off work Friday mornings to get the most out of our weekends. Sunday's we are up early for church or whatever is planned for the day and then try to get a couple of hours sleep before we go to work that night.It can be hard on a persons body to work these hours. But for most of us that work them it is the preferred shift for various reasons.My own personal reason being I am not a morning person.I used to have to get up at 4:00 in the morning to get to work on time when worked the day shift. I hated it.

My husband works 2nd shift so we don't get to see much of each other during the week. We try to spend a little time together to see how each other is doing after he gets up and as I'm getting ready to go to bed. It works for us.

There was fire in her eyes as she slammed the door to leave.
This time it was really over and she'd be damned if she would grieve.

He'd burned the last plank on that bridge when he cheated this last time.
And all his crying and his pleading wasn't gonna change her mind.

She wasn't going to hang around and be his doormat any longer.
She knew that she could make it now,this time she was much stronger.

She was ready now to go ,to make a brand new start.
She'd reclaim the woman she used to be before he broke her heart.

A little smile was on her face as she started down those stairs.
A brand new life was waiting for her in that big old world out there.

Neither my husband nor I are very computer savvy. We know the basics and thats about it.We aren't able to get anything but dial up service in our rural area,needless to say it gets frustrating waiting for a page to load.

One day a couple of weeks ago my husband was on line and I heard him say in a very disgusted tone "Well my God".I asked him what was wrong knowing it was probably the wait time again. He replied " I only have a connection speed of 34 kilopeeps" Kilopeeps? I said"what are you talking about?" He said "you know the connection speed it's only 34 kilopeeps"

Oh my,I had to laugh! Kilopeeps. "Oh babe" I told him "it's not kilopeeps." "Well what is it then?" he asked. "Kilobits" I told him.'Oh well" he said "same thing". Still makes me smile when I think of it.

When my daughter was a year old she had to have surgery because her soft spot had closed to soon. The doctor said if we didn't have it done her head would become mis-shaped and cause her to look very different than everyone else. It was hard to believe our little girl had to have this major surgery.

We checked into the hospital early on the morning of her surgery. A sweet little blond haired boy named Ty was being checked in at the same time and was her room mate. He had spina bifida.(I'm sure I spelled that wrong) He couldn't walk but at 3 years old was hell on wheels.

Ty's mother and someone who must have been a friend of hers checked him in, put him in his crib and then left, to talk to the nurses I assumed.But she never came back.

I stayed with Miranda the 7 days she was in the hospital sleeping in her room. Not once did Ty's mom ever come back. My husband and I would play and read with Ty as we did with Miranda. He was such a cute little guy.

Ty constantly wanted out of his crib so he could go exploring.He would try to drag himself over the railings and scared me so much.I thought he would fall on that hard floor more than one time. The nurses ended up having to put a net over his bed to keep him in. He would say to anyone who walked in the door"Hey, hey you, get me outta this bed!".

My husband and I felt so sorry for the little boy.We asked the nurse if Ty's mom or anyone from his family would be back to visit him. Her response was "No one ever does, they just bring him in a leave him whenever he needs another procedure done"

Ty was still there when Miranda was released from the hospital. I never saw his mom after she put him in his crib that first day. I still wonder about TY. It's been 23 years. Miranda grew into a beautiful young woman and is married and loving her life.I pray that Ty's life has turned out happy too.

Menopause is killing me. No, not really but somedays I feel like it is.I can't believe how hot a hot flash can get. I took my temperature during one certain that it had to be dangerously high. It wasn't, but how can that be when I swear my blood is boiling on the inside. I'll wake up from a sound sleep and kicking the covers off trying to get relief from the hot sweat pouring down my body.I have to change my nightgown because it's so damp from sweat. I run the air conditioner and a fan and I'm still hot. My poor husband freezes trying to burrow into the covers to get warm while I'm laying on top of the covers trying to get cool.

He says I'm driving him crazy. Me driving him crazy? Oh my lord somedays I could run the man down with my car.Why? Because he breathes too loudly through his nose,because he flips channels on t.v. when a commercial comes on only to watch a different commercial on another channel, because his driving is unbearable. It depends on the day why I want to knock him off.

And then on the days I don't want to kill him I remember how much I love him and it makes me cry. I cry because he takes such good care of me.Reminding me to take my migraine medicine when I forget.Which is often since menopause can make you so forgetful, now what was I saying? Oh yes,I cry because he brings me home flowers for no reason, Because he tells me everyday how special I am to him.I cry because just the day before I wanted to kill him.I guess I probably am driving him crazy.

I haven't slept a full 5 or 6 hours in 2 years ,since all this fun began. Insomnia. Another joy of menopause. I can't wait to be done with this. If I'm not crying I'm pissed off. And wide awake.

You know now that I read back through this I almost feel sorry for my husband. Almost. Except today is one of the days I could run him over. If only I could remember where I parked my car.