Tummyache

Must have been something I ate. No matter how careful I am, things sneak past me sometimes. On the train, I only had a sub bought at a chain where I have eaten before, and some cereal I had brought with me. The only thing unusual I can recall at all from the whole trip was a fruit smoothie, and I know those don't give me a hard time.

Normally, these digestive disturbances pass in a day or so. Except that this bout feels more sharp than normal. I would worry about a blockage if things weren't moving along so well. It comes and goes, feeling much like some snake in my middle rolling over and twisting. Could be some perverted flubug. Sort of reminds me of that children's prayer, verse two:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
a bag of peanuts at my feet.
If I should die before I wake,
You'll know I died of a tummyache.

What a silly thing for a kid to learn. I changed that little prayer for my own boys a long time ago. What decent self repsecting parent would chant into their child's brain thoughts of dying every single night? Not that I'm particularly creative or anything. I'm sure others have made up much more pleasing words aka Hemingway's little short story. In fact, the poem has been the subject of a number of literary endeavors not to mention set to music (think Hansel and Gretel) and used as a lullaby for a few centuries.

It has a wonderful appeal of security in a topsy-turvy world where children are afraid to sleep (think Monsters, Inc and Veggie Tales). It's simplicity and directness gets to the heart of the matter, its rhyme pattern embedding itself into your brain's DNA, floating back to you at all ages and stages of life.

What could be better than to remember God watching over you, keeping you safe, ensuring that all will be well? So here's the version I taught my kiddos:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Help me sleep all through the night,
wake me with the morning's light.

It looses that eternal perspective, but doesn't scare the bajeebies out of a little kid. Anyway, as they grow up, it is inevitable that they will hear the original version's last two lines (If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take). If they need that part later on, I have no fear they will remember it.

Gee, all that from a tummyache!