It wasn’t a dark and stormy night; it was just dark. And I slammed into an immovable object in the dead of night. Had an intruder erected a brick wall while I was sleeping, and if so, why? No, it was a middle-of-the-night, mid-bathroom collision. I was to-ing, and my husband was fro-ing, and before we knew it, we had crashed into each other, and I bounced off his chest.

When you plod to the bathroom in the dark, barely awake and trying to stay that way, it is jolting to smack into another body striding from the opposite direction. It was startling (and slightly painful for me), and we both exploded into laughter. So much adrenaline shot through my system from the initial terror of the encounter that I’m astounded I slept at all afterward.

Rather than wondering how this happened, we both wondered why it hadn’t happened before. Since we’re generally unaware of the other’s nocturnal wanderings, how had we avoided injury, screaming, and heart attacks in the dead of night for this long?

Fortunately, neither of us suffered a severe injury from the impact; however, we nearly collided again the following night. I was clawing my way to consciousness as I climbed out of bed, only to narrowly miss being taken out by my husband, in his own sleep stupor, as he walked around the end of it. Undoubtedly, flattening his wife was not his intention, but it was a narrow escape.

So how do we return to our previous state of oblivion, the time before we knew terror lurked in the dead of night?

I have an idea. It’s quite simple.

Traffic cones that glow in the dark and separate the floor into zones! One difficulty I foresee with this brilliant remedy is having enough brain cells firing in the dead of night to choose the proper lane.

I would prefer we harmonize on ideal room temperature, open or closed windows, downtime/activity balance on vacation, etc., rather than on bathroom trips. However, the most practical solution might be to keep a helmet close at hand to wear on my journeys in the dead of night—one with a headlamp and warning sensor!

Keep laughing, friends. As the Bible says, “Each day has enough trouble of its own” Matthew 6:34b. Look for the funny parts because you don’t have to look too far for the trouble.

If you are in a difficult situation and don’t know when something will change, you might enjoy my last blog post, “The Lingering Place.” Here is the link:

The Lingering Place