How to Fall a Sleep in the Middle of the Night

Old-perfume-jars

I have read and reread the comments and emails you have sent me. Thank you for your good advice, helpful services offered and for telling me to put it down and then think about publication.

Thank you for encouraging me to do something I never thought I would do. Never. But after being asked a few times over the last four years, I decided to give it a try. If only to be able to pass something on to my children. To be able to hold this moment, this community of faithful readers, and to let French Husband have his way. He has encouraged me since day one to put it in a book… he is afraid it might vanish in the air or something.

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The dream started when I opened my window and heard the rain pinging on the tin roof under the night sky. The dream followed me back to bed, were I wrapped myself around French Husband's warm body.

Last night I couldn't sleep. I heard the church bells ring three, then four… I leaned into French Husband's ear, "Are you sleeping?"

"No."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Since I came to bed?"

"Oh my that long! What are you thinking about?"

(Never ask a man what he is thinking about at four in the morning.)

"Sleeping and you?"

"And me?"

"Yes you. What are you thinking about?"

"The book idea."

"Oh, just do it."

Then I rattled on and on in a low whisper about why I was thinking to do a book. (French Husband offered those little sounds that one does when one is listening and doesn't want to interrupt, but wants the other person to know that they are listening.) I shared my hopes for a book, my concerns, what many of you said and how many of you offered to help and I told him I couldn't sleep thinking about it all….

Then I heard him snoring.

He had fallen asleep. And that made me feel safe and warm and loved… silly but so true. He had relaxed, or whatever, and that was good enough for me. I fell asleep too.

Twenty two years later we can sleep for sleep sake and dream about tomorrow together.



Comments

51 responses to “How to Fall a Sleep in the Middle of the Night”

  1. It’s 3:23am. I have a cat sitting on my shoulder…and I know she is thinking, “When on earth are you going to bed!”
    I am so happy to hear about your book.
    Sleep well, Corey!
    : )
    Julie M.

  2. Oh Corey, DO YOUR BOOK!!!! Whatever you choose to do, just one theme or a mix, it will be amazing!!!!

  3. I have always known a book would come out of you…or maybe more than one??? A series, well, of course! Wherever God leads, and he will, it will be wonderful, and painfull, and “really living”. I don’t always comment, but I always enjoy your talent,,regularly.
    You go Girl!
    Marcie

  4. All the blessings in the world …
    You go, girl!

  5. I love this story. I feel like I’m watching a movie as you tell it and I feel warm and hear the bells then the gentle snoring. Nice.

  6. splendid

    isn’t life wonderful?

  7. Linda C.

    When you write, pictures jump off the page…
    When you take photos, we jump right into them…
    Good Luck Corey!

  8. Julienne

    What a lovely marriage you appear to have…with a husband like that how can you fail. Loving support is more helpful to success than anyone can ever guess. I look forward to the book, as I look forward to your posts.

  9. OH, that was the most tender post. Part of your French love story. A French Love Story…hmmmmm now there’s a title.

  10. How perfect, we too had rain at 3:00 a.m. last night, and thunder and lightening.. I too could not sleep, and I too wrapped my arms around a sleeping husband. What was I dreaming about? Nothing as monumental as writing a book… just how my booth will look at Marburger, all the little finishing touches I wish to add… It is a small world, with such universal truths…. listen my dear. Love Linda

  11. I hope that you can get a nap in today. It is wonderful to be awake thinking about something exciting rather than worrying about things.

  12. I get that way too, when I am excited about something. Soon, I won’t be able to sleep in the anticipation of your book! Perhaps, it will get me going. I’ve had 2 books floating around in my head for years and years. I started to write one and felt it wasn’t good enough and put it down. Please share your journey, highs and lows, of the writing process. I feel the insomnia already.

  13. Corey, I inevitably become all “wired” when I’m developing ideas for my writing projects (even brief articles or a single poem translation) — leading to hours of insomnia 🙁 It just comes with the territory, I fear. The worst part is when one finally wakes up in the morning and can’t remember all the good ideas one had during the night!
    One solution: Keep a flashlight, small pad of paper and a pen/pencil by the bed, so you can write down our ideas when you think of them — although, as I’ve learned the hard way, by the light of day some may turn out not to be as inspired as they seemed in the sleepless wee small hours!

  14. Ack, a crucial single letter got truncated in the rewriting process. Relevant portion of comment should read, “so you can write down YOUR ideas…”

  15. Leslie Garcia

    Dear Corey,
    YOU ARE A WRITER!
    Hope you get a nap in today!
    Love,
    Leslie

  16. I agree that you should do it. If Peter Mayle can do it so can you. Maybe there will be a movie deal and we can all come to your party to celebrate.

  17. My aunt and uncle wrote a book about how they lived during the war and how they met after, so sweet. They wrote it as a memento for their growing family of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a few years ago.
    A book of your life in France and the beauty you have found it in will be a great gift to your children and future grandchildren and I am sure they will treasure it forever. (As will we, your readers all over the world.)

  18. It’s all just part of the process, isn’t it? 🙂
    Very rarely is it the case that my husband is awake in the night (if he’s horizontal; he’s asleep!), but there is something comforting to me just to listen to him breathe and know I’m not alone as I think my thoughts. Sometimes if I know my mind is still going 100 mph when we are ready for bed, I’ll ask my husband to sing a song to me, and he will. It helps my mind calm down and prepare for sleep…

  19. I woke up in the middle of the night after having a dream about visiting you! It must be the moon phase or something. Or the thought of big projects in front of us: for me, a book as well!

  20. Can’t wait to read the book! From Cy down in Cagnes-sur-Mer

  21. Yep I have had those beddy bye discussions with my dear hubby…ah the intimacies. I am too thrilled about your book.

  22. A little world has been created here with all of us banding together..It was just a little over a month ago that I did not even know what a blog was..I found yours…you gave me personal attention and advice…I started a blog..and now….I have friends from all over the world, I have people interested in what I do , what I’m selling…It is amazing… You feed us and we feed you and all of us are in this together..Our world is one filled with hope. Your success is ours and ours is yours…Bask in this warm cocoon you have helped to create and know in your heart we are all pulling together to make this a better place to dwell..Warm Regards, Cynthia

  23. What a sweet story.
    Yes, you must write that book!!!
    ~Dana

  24. ah, love.
    You know, Corey, Rafa is thinking about putting a book together based on his blog too, and we’ve been looking at Blurb, etc. It is a very exciting, exhilarating idea! Cheers to you for tackling it!

  25. Corey, oh how wonderful, you can do it, I know you can!! You are a natural writer, your stories are from the heart!!!
    Hugs,
    Margaret B

  26. That little story actually brought tears to my eyes…sigh.
    yes, a book, a book!
    j

  27. Love the 4 a.m. story! and the book….definitely!!

  28. Victoria

    I’m going to cry. There is nothing on earth like the security of having a supportive husband.

  29. That’s wonderful, it really is. Stories of your long-lived love, way past infatuation and into the realms of real life.

  30. Oh that’s wonderful!
    Go ahead, love will show you the path and give you inspiration.
    Love

  31. Elaine L.

    I always imagined you writing a book about how a simple blog enhanced your living experience, as opposed to a book about your life living in France. That would be another book.
    If you started from there, couldn’t you use some of your existing posts and reader’s comments? To me, your reader’s contributions to the blog, via their comments, are as important as your pictures and what you post. Of course, you would have to have written permission from your readers to post what they have written. But, that is doable.
    Your blog is all about the human experience and how we, as humans, desire to connect with each other. Through your blog, you have brought people from all over the world together. We share our our inner most feelings and experiences, with each other, through you.
    You have really accomplished a wonderful thing.
    ~elaine~

  32. Brenda L from TN

    YES!!!! A BOOK IS COMING!!! That’s good news for US…YOU ARE A WRITER, PURE AND SIMPLE…You can create pictures in our heads and we see exactly what you see…not every writer can do that,sad to say…I have a former classmate who can do that and I love to get her emails and she’s just across town…she recently came back from the beach in Florida and her emails made me feel that I was there too…she (and you) can describe the surroundings so perfectly and beautifully I can see them as well. PLEASE write that BOOK…CUDOS to FH for his encouragement and support…you are very fortunate to have such a loving and generous mate.

  33. See? That post right here… is a perfect mini-episode/chapter in the book. Simply sheer perfection.

  34. Sweetness. I love how you write about FH with sweetness. Your book is going to be SWEET!

  35. Do it.
    You will enjoy the challenge.
    FH will burst with pride.
    Your children will thank you for it and one day, maybe…
    your grandchildren will stare at you in wonder.

  36. What a lovely post and such a wonderful relationship. Thank you for sharing.

  37. Yann is dreamy Corey, really dreamy. I have missed a couple of days but knew from day one that write a book you must. Include photographs, you are so talented there. Focus on Provence – no explanation needed. Use your wonderful talent for storey telling, teasing, romance. A best seller for sure. Please put me down for a signed 1st edition ! Hopefully sweet dreams tonight, jx

  38. Oh just do it, I know it will be perfect and amazing in every way!
    Please stop by my blog and enter my contest 🙂
    http://www.berlindeluxxe.blogspot.com

  39. Good luck with your decision to publish a book. It would be a labor of love from you to us, I am sure. I think about doing the same thing; so I will be following your story.

  40. Put me on the waiting list for a first edition copy.

  41. I was going to write this comment under the Book by Corey post, but I couldn’t stand to scroll through 300 plus comments (40 were bad – erm – were enough). Corey, I would buy your book the minute it came out. But please don’t make it all about brocanting, or info for tourists wanting to shop and dine. Let it be about you, mainly. You, and your family, your friends, your neighbor lady, your home, your culinary experiences, your discoveries. Let it be like this blog, with the writing and the photos. Let it be about these experiences filtered through YOU.

  42. Thank you for sharing your middle of the night excitment with us. It is comforting to know that you have the loving support of your husband in your writing endeavor. Just to know that exisits as a possibilty in this world is a treasure! Along with so many that follow your blog, I look forward to the day I can hold your book in my hand!

  43. Rain on rooftops, sleeping husbands…comfort without words. Write woman, write!!!

  44. I’m new to your blog and feel as if I’ve just stumbled upon a beautiful gem of a blog and blogger. This post felt like one of my own experiences, however with my Very American Husband. 😉 Looking forward to reading your book someday and to more of your blog, too.

  45. jend’isère

    Those featured magic potions, labelled and not, gadgets and words give us illusions of dreams. You already have it within for the project.
    Though, what is in that “in” bottle anyway?

  46. your book is written, here on the pages of this blog. embody your motto ‘tongue in cheek’ in regard to your decision and fears. embark on this adventure as you did across europe on the back of the bike. with little luggage, an open heart, an extra pair of underwear and a love beside you. you done it already, just say YES.
    write it for your children, my children and forever.
    twirly love to you
    *

  47. What a beautiful story! Follow your dream!

  48. The book idea is brilliant – I’m sure you’ll have no problem gathering enough material for it – the only difficulty will be working out what to leave out so that you can publish it in just one volume! I think you have far more than just one book in you. Cooking with Annie would give enough material for one on its own!

  49. Corey…sleepless nights are far too often around here but it would be wonderful to be sleepless because of such an exciting project! If you have doubts…throw them out that window onto that tin roof! If you have worries….just give them to me…my husband says he doesn’t worry because I worry enough for both of us! Now, when will you start? I hope it was last night.

  50. oh what a great post. it’s 2am & i can’t sleep & i’ve just left my husband gently snoring!! maybe i’ll wake him up…

  51. Corey,
    I have been following your blog for the past couple years at the suggestion of my sister-in-law. I just wanted to comment now that if you’re interested in putting together a book, I would highly recommend the Blurb publishing service. In the past few years I have made several books (200-300 pages, generally 500-800 photos in each) and I am very happy with this company. As an amateur photographer I’ve been impressed with how true the colors are on the printed page, the quality of the book itself and the fact that what you see on the computer screen is exactly what you end up with in your hand. Only once have I had a problem with a book, and when I emailed the company to tell them, I was amazed to not only get an immediate reply, but they had ordered another book for me free of charge. The Blurb software is easy to use and will import automatically from a blog if you choose. It offers almost complete control and creativity, and you can sell your book right on the Blurb website. As you might guess, I am sold on this service. Good luck on your endeavor and I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. I think your blog would make a wonderful book.

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