Musings at Altitude

I woke up at 12:50 this morning with the bed shaking and in a semi-conscious state thought that it must be getting windy and went right back to sleep.  I woke up again at 1:32, with a rumbling throughout the house and the concussion sounds of explosions going off.  If my wife had been home (she’s visiting our granddaughter), I would have immediately woke her up and said “what’s that?”, and she would have given me some comfort or answer that would have sent me back to my dreams.  But she wasn’t, so I was left to figure it out alone in my not-nearly-enough-sleep stupor.  I put on my glasses first (what else would a blind without them, concerned father do) and then went out into the open area of our main floor.  I went toward the back of the house and the sounds decreased.  I then went to the front door and peered outside and heard and saw nothing.  I then climbed the stairs to our second floor where the kids rooms are and the concussions eased.  So I went back down to the main level quite perplexed with what may be happening in the world to cause the rumbling and the sounds of bombs going off.

As I was standing there stumped, I noticed that the sounds and the concussions would grow fairly loud and strong and then fade.  I also noticed that the tremors were very intense on the floor.  I walked over to the stairway that leads downstairs and all was dark.  I stood there for a couple moments and finally it clicked – our home theater with the surround sound was the only thing that could be creating those affects.

I walked downstairs and sure enough the doors to the theater were vibrating big time.  I knocked (don’t know why, but certainly didn’t want to catch anyone unprepared) and burst into the room.  My 21 year old son popped off the couch and said “what’s up?”  I aggresively responded, “do you realize the entire house is shaking?”  He said “sorry” as he quickly moved to the sound system and dialed the sound way down.  As he went back to the couch, I asked, “don’t you have work tomorrow?”  He said “no” and then went back to watching the movie “Dark Knight”.

I was finally awake as I realized the insanity of him watching a movie this early in the morning with the sound cranked up.  But even so, I said the only thing I could think of at the time, “I’m glad the city’s not under attack!”  I shut the door and then went back to bed.

I’m tempted this morning to turn on my stereo in my office (right under his room) and crank the sound way up.  Maybe I should play my “Bad Boy Ballads” CD and shake the whole section of the house with my Bose sound system. 

But I won’t.  He needs his sleep.