Nature sounds

Before school started I bought the kids' alarm clocks. Well, my intention was to just get one for Ryan, as I feel he is old enough to get himself out of bed. Lindsay was with me when I was shopping though, and so then I had to get *her* one. Which turned into me figuring why not get one for me too? I mean, my cell phone has done very well as my alarm, but maybe it was time to get something else. (Although the ring I have used for my alarm for the past couple of years has been the t-mobile jingle, so now whenever a commercial comes on and they play that jingle at the end, I jump 10 feet in the air. Because it's time to get up!)

Anyways, I found this really cool looking alarm clock. It has "calming nature sounds" that you can use to fall asleep, or wake up to if that's your thing. It even has a jack on it where you can plug in a CD or MP3 player, so I was sold. We checkout and come home. I was really excited to hear the sounds, so I opened mine as soon as I got home and plugged it in. On it, there are buttons for wind chimes, babbling brook, forest, and ocean waves. Cool!

I try the wind chimes. Meh, sounds pretty, but the percussionist in me can hear the patterns because it's not a real windchime and not completely random. I have tried falling asleep to it, but it's hard because I find myself really listening to it instead of relaxing.

So then, I try forest. Ok, outside of the Amazon, I'm not sure what forest sounds like that. And this was even the Amazon in the middle of the day or something. Most of the sounds I didn't even recognize. So I didn't consider this one to be "calming", as I think I would lay awake and wonder "What IS that?!"

On to babbling brook. Apparently the term "babbling"? Doesn't apply to the brook. It applies to the millions of frogs that live by the brook. You can't even hear the water at all. And you know, I'm just not that into frogs.

So I had one last hope, ocean waves. I had high hopes. I love the beach, and I think even my husband can attest that I turn into a different person when I am near the ocean. All the stress just melts away. Snuffed by the first three sounds, I was hesitant. I push the ocean button. That familiar crescendo of a wave rolling in begins. I smile. It peaks and rolls back and I listen and wait for the next one. Ahh, now this I could fall asleep to! I have found the grail!

And that's when the sea gulls began.