I think every family has at least one who just doesn’t really care to sleep.

You know what I’m talking about?

At our home, we call that one:  The Wanderer

That child who avoids sleep at all costs.

Yes, yes, I know, it is often said, “Well they just don’t require much sleep.”

Of course they don’t.

That’s why we find them wandering around with a different excuse each night.

In our oldest batch of kids, we had one who was The Wanderer.
And now in the up and coming batch of treasures, we have yet another
one known as The Wanderer.

The Wanderer is also often found wide awake hours after bedtime.
This one has been known to see Liberty heading to bed later at night and
cheerily quip,

“Hey beautiful girl!!  You headin’ to bed now?”

So the other night I went to get something out of our room and
thought I heard a little voice.

I stopped.  

Was that one of the kids?

I called, “Did someone call me?”

And the conversation went like this:

“Yup, it’s me mom.”

I walked into our bathroom and found said child standing there.

“What are you doing?  You were tucked in ages ago.”

“I need a bandaid, I cut my finger.”

{Holding up finger.}

Looking at it, I remarked, “Hmmm.  That’s weird.  When I tucked you in,
I didn’t think there was anything on your bunk that would cut you.”

“Well I had to go to the bathroom.”

“Wow, that’s really, really weird.  I thought when you go to the bathroom, you climb down
from your bunk and walk into the bathroom.  Last time I checked there was nothing
that would cut you.”

The Wanderer wears the blank stare.

“And when you use the bathroom, normally one pulls down their undies, uses the
bathroom then uses tissue.  The next step is to pull their undies back up.  Far as I
remember there is not any sharp objects involved in the process so I’m rather
confused as to how you have cut your finger.”

More blank stare.

“Then I think usually you would go back into your bedroom and climb back on
your bunk.  So I’m super confused as to when you would have cut your finger?’

Continued blank stare, although eyes wander a speck.

“Any idea what you might have cut your finger on?”

“The razor.”

“Oh right.  Of course you did.  And why did you have a razor in
your hand?”

Blank stare.

Quietly The Wanderer answers,


“I was shaving my hand.”

Now I had the blank stare.

Of course they were.

Without any words and in the stillness
of the evening, I found the Neosporin and put the band-aid on.

I told the big kids, “This child is soooo me.”

And I proceeded to share with my big kids the story of cleaning the light socket
with the pin on my nightgown and passing out when I got the electrical shock
from hitting the wires.

I don’t care what anyone says, The Wanderer and I really do have the same DNA.