"The 3 a.m. Dog Dance"

I woke at 3 a.m. this morning to something I'd forgotten about after being in the hospital for a week: "The 3 a.m. Dog Dance."

It happens every 3 a.m. at our house with our three dogs. One starts the parade to go outside, then the others follow. Tonight, we have four dogs, baby-sitting my son's beagle for the holiday weekend. The number of dogs doesn't matter though. It's the 3 a.m. part that has always been an annoyance. Once one of them wakes up, all the others follow.

But it was different this time than it's been for the last week I spent hospitalized. I immediately noted that I was NOT awakened by my elderly, hard-of-hearing hospital roommate who suffered from dimentia, calling out for her husband at all hours through the night: "DAD?? HEY ... DAD?"

Larry escorted all four dogs to the door, single file, then let them all in again and crawled back in bed next to me, and continued snoring. I lay here in my own bed, thinking of all the other differences I note in my new perception of the The 3 a.m. Dog Dance.

It isn't my elderly roommate snoring, it's Larry.

It isn't hospital staff crashing and banging into my room to take our vitals at 3 a.m. that has wakened me from my light, restless sleep in that uncomfortable, God-awful hospital bed, it's MY DOGS!

And my own bed does NOT have an uncomfortable metal bar under my butt, no ... it's my Tempurpedic! Ahhh ...

Wait a minute here. I find myself sleeping on my left side, something I have not been able to do in a whole month. No IV! And no drains to worry about!

Now that I'm awake, I get up to use the bathroom. What's this? No IV pole to drag with me? No navigating the pole to the left around my roommate's walker, then to the right around her portable commode? No wrestling with my hosptial gown with my two bum arms (one with the IV, the other still pretty useless because of the surgery) to keep it out of the way while I ........

And hold on here. No peeing into a "hat" so that my "output" can be measured?

Back to bed now. My back feels no draft from the hospital gown. I am in my OWN PAJAMAS! I ease back into bed, less sore everyday; I hadn't noticed that before. Hmmm. Hey ... this is my first night post-surgery without a pain pill!

I fluff my pillows. MY PILLOWS, my big ol' king-sized fluffy feather pillows, NOT the tiny "pizza boxes" covered with a pillow case that the hospital calls "pillows."

Our bedroom window is open and I smell the air. THE AIR! Not the smell of the hospital! How sweet it is! (Thank you for that phrase, Jackie Gleason!)

Hear those crickets outside? Why did I never notice them before?

Everyone is snoring again now. Larry, all four dogs. I'm not annoyed. I'm actually enjoying it, well, at least, appreciating it! I'm lying here smiling, I know that!

Think I'll end this entry, settle in on my left side, enjoy like never before the things that used to annoy me, note others I had not noticed before, and THANK GOD I AM HOME! SAFE, SECURE, OUT OF DANGER FROM THE BLOT CLOT, ALIVE, and seeing the Lord's work -- as well as His reminders -- with every CLEAR breath I draw.

Yet another of so many humbling lessons I've learned on this journey so far. And I get more thankful with each one.

Okay, Lord, I got it!

Talk about sweet dreams. Goodnight.