Quiet, Please

In a house with a one year old finding her voice and a three year old finding, well, EVERYTHING, things get a tad noisy. Emily will shout, just because she can. Daniel will shout, to share something amazing he’s discovered. Emily will out-shout him, just because she can. Daniel will out-shout her, because he’s in charge. The television is usually going (yes, yes, I know. Don’t judge me). We have toys that sing, whistle, laugh (that one’s quite creepy actually), count, roar. There’s a dishwasher. A washing machine. VERY occasionally I hoover.

Even at night it’s not that quiet. There’s the constant crackle of the baby monitor. Daniel snores. Andrew snores (I don’t of course…); there are times he sounds like a cappuccino machine going in the middle of the night. Emily punctuates the night liberally with cries for cuddles, feeds and then wakes up properly and wants to sing.

Is it any wonder I sometimes feel like I’m cracking up?

Peace and quiet is so rare and blissful that when it happens I want to sit and do nothing, just soak it up. If we go somewhere like an old church or my mum’s caravan in the Durham Dales, the quiet is almost tangible. One of my most unexpectedly precious moments during the week is on a Sunday morning. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, we live above a church (see here) and early on Sunday morning I usually open up. Our church has a large auditorium where the Sunday service is held, and our Sunday service is loud – drums, band, children running everywhere, exuberant worship. But this early on a Sunday the auditorium is dark and silent and it’s beautiful. Not that far away chaos is erupting in our flat (it’s a safe bet, anyway) but here is an oasis of calm.

I’m a musical person, I’m always singing or humming. And after nearly four years of motherhood I’m used to a certain amount of noise and would it find unsettling if it disappeared for long. But everyone needs a little silence every and now and then; a moment of quiet for recharging.

Right, got to go and find my earplugs. They’re having a shouting match again…

4 thoughts on “Quiet, Please”

  1. I hear you (sorry, couldn’t help the pun) but am here to tell you that on the days when the children are out of the house and it’s peaceful, quiet and serene… it just feels wrong. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to total quiet now. My life has been better because of the noises of babies, children, teenagers, dogs and snoring husbands. You do need *some* quiet time tho – I switch off TV when I’m in on my own, but I can still hear the birds and the dogs on the green and the neighbour two doors up who is landscaping the garden of the next door neighbours who are away in Beirut, Azerbajan and London a lot and…. I know. Pass me your earplugs!
    Nx

  2. Of course you don’t snore, it’s biologically impossible for a woman to do so…

    Lovely post! I really enjoyed reading it.

    Our home is quiet the opposite! I crave buzz – we ought to arrange regular life swaps 😀 .

  3. I usually like having noise around – non-repetitive/non-annoying noise, that is! But lately every song has been getting on my nerves. I initially thought I needed to find new music, but now I realize I just want SILENCE. Not even to be productive in, just to space out in!

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