Forget about your worries and your strife

Since Shaggy Hair Boy has classes during the day and does his schoolwork in the evening, it’s often fairly late at night when he sits down at the piano. Most nights, I fall asleep to the sound of jazz music reverberating up the stairwell. Since my father and his friends used to jam together when I was a kid, I learned long ago to sleep in the midst of music.

The other night, my husband woke me. “Listen,” he said. “How can you possibly sleep through that?”

I sat up in bed. It did sound like a wild party going on below. But when I listened closely, it was really just two voices, Shaggy Hair Boy and With-a-Why. They’d found a book of Disney music and decided to do some recording. When I walked downstairs to get a glass of water, they were both at the piano. Shaggy Hair Boy’s hands were moving fast and he was laughing while he played.  With-a-Why was standing at his side, his uncombed hair hanging in his face, singing into the microphone.

“They’re having fun,” I said to my husband as I got back into bed. “They’re bonding.”

I fell back to sleep right away — I can sleep through anything — but the next time I woke up, I noticed that my husband was gone. He’s a light sleeper compared to me. The raucous singing and laughter was still coming up the stairwell. I could make out the words from the Jungle Book: “The bare necessities of life!”

This time, I recognized my husband’s voice.

I looked at the clock. It was 3 am. I came down the stairs to sit on the couch and watch the performance. Shaggy Hair Boy’s hands were still moving like crazy, half following the music and half improvising. My husband and With-a-Why both leaned to sing into the microphone, making up words whenever they didn’t know them.

Family bonding in the middle of the night.