4:51 AM

We have all gotten that call. Or maybe we have just dreaded that call. That call in the middle of the night. When the phone rings and wakes us from a dead sleep. Awakes us from a dead sleep to a heart pounding awakeness. Wondering, “Who could be calling at this ungodly hour?” It can only be bad news at this hour. Oh no…you don’t even want to pick up the phone. You wait for it to ring a second time, hoping it will not. If it were good news, they would wait until a more reasonable hour. Your mind rushes to all sorts of scenarios…none good. This all happens in the blink of an eye. Time seems frozen in this moment. Do you pick it up? Do you ignore it? Do you wait for your heart to slow down? That would take too long. That queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. It is there without bidding. You feel literally sick to your stomach. All of this in the matter of a second or two. All because of a phone ringing. At 4:51 AM. This morning.

This all happened to me at 4:51 AM this morning. I looked at the clock. There was no doubt what time it was. I was wide awake. I waited for the phone to ring a second time. It did not ring again. Then I remembered that Michelle had unplugged the phone next to the bed several years ago, not wanting to be wakened from a nap. It had never been plugged back in. I picked up my cell phone. No missed call. No missed call? How can that be? That phone ringing woke me from a dead sleep. A dreamless sleep, if I remember. It was loud, right next to my ear. It was real. It woke me up. How was that to be?

I lay there, heart coming back to a more normal beating. Michelle still sound asleep beside me, breathing regularly. The ring did not wake her. It did ring, didn’t it? Did I imagine it? It was so real. 4:51 AM rolled over to 4:52 AM. I lay there, and went back to sleep. I woke up and it was 6:51 AM. No sense trying to go back to sleep. Not going to happen.