So fucking elftastic

It’s been a long ass week for me.  I’ve been off work for almost 5  wks, so getting back into the routine is little hard on these aged bones of mine.  If I was back in my 20’s might not be so hard I think…Anyway, with  the work and  the familial duties, are endless loads of laundry that a small child creates, house to clean, dishes to wash, and lest we forget the extra curricular activities that come with this holiday season.  The princess is involved in some outside things so off we go.  Sleep falls way down on my list of things to do, so when I get the opportunity to do so, I take it.  So I’ve finally gotten the princess to bed, and I have laid myself down.  Dark falls and my eyes close.  I’m finally falling into a blissful sleep, when suddenly I hear ~RING! RING!~ wha? Where the hell is the noise coming from? I think I am awake, and as I look around the room, all I see is darkness…shaking my head, I burrow back down into the covers and once again close my eyes.  ~RING! RING!~ Ok..THAT is definitely some sort of bell.  Once again I open my eyes .  “Wakey wakey”, says a sarcastic voice.  I look and there in the corner  he stands.  I would call him an elf, because of his stature, but he looks nothing like the mythological ones depicted this time of year, but instead stands robed in some sort of hooded robe and all I can see really is his dark red eyes peering out at me in the darkness.   “What the hell do you want and why are you waking me up”, I snarl.  Yeah, am not the most pleasant of beasts when awakened prematurely.  He laughs.  “Don’t like the bells?”, he asks..”are they not part of this time of year?”.  In who’s world I wonder.  “Yeah”, I say.  “If one is singing a carol like I heard the bells of christmas ring, their old familiar carols play, mild and sweet their songs repeat, of peace on earth goodwill to men”. ” Or if one is passing by stores and see the bell ringers of an organization who professes that love and goodwill yet is prejudiced against those who either live outside their biblical beliefs or dogma.  ” The “elf” man laughs.  “They did tell me to expect a certain amount of sarcasm, but I’m inclined to believe that they might not have given me a full picture”.  “Who the fuck are they, and why did they send you here?” I ask.  “”You know who they are ” he snarls at me.  “And they sent me to speak with you”.  “Your timing sucks ass”  I tell him.  “I’m tired and not in the mood to hang out with one who finds it funny to ring fucking bells in my ear”.   I’m not at my best being awakened rudely so probably if I was more alert I might have thought about whom I might be speaking with, but that thought never occurs to me.  Suddenly he chuckles.  “I can see why you have been entrusted with truth”, he says.  “They chose well”.  Fine…I think…they  chose well..for what I’m not inclined to think about at the moment.  “So why are you here”? I ask, just barely maintaining some sort of civility, because after all, I am damned tired.
“I came to speak to you about love” he tells me.  “WHAT!?!?!?” “You wake me out of a blissful sleep that I so desperately need  to speak to me about a human concept that the majority of people wandering around have no clue as to what really is?” I ask him incredulously.  “You know” he tells me.  “Fine..let’s get it over with”.  I say.  “Are you asking or telling me?”  “I’m asking you for your definition” he says.  FFS I think to myself.  I am awakened by a bell ringing elf otherkin(only description I can call upon) to explain what the hell love is.  “Is there a reason for this?”, I ask him.  “There is” he says”.  I sit waiting for the explanation, but there is nothing forthcoming .  I sigh heavily, and begin.  “Love for me, in my opinion, is a verb..meant to be put into action.  Without acting upon the feelings one feels for others or for one’s self then it becomes merely yet another word in the english language that has lost value and is purely lip service.”  “So are there great things required for this action?”he asks.  “Not always”, I tell him.  “Sometimes nothing more than being there for a friend to vent is a way of showing love”.  “And yet, it is a sacrifice of sorts, is it not”, he asks again.  “I guess that is one way to look at it”, I tell him.  “Let me see if I understand you.  You feel that if one does nothing to back up the words of love spoken, then its not truly love, correct?” “correct”.  He pushes back the hood, and I get a glimpse in the shadows of a face that seems disfigured, which explains his penchant for shadows perhaps.  I see a smile, almost a grimace really upon his face.  “I was told that you love fiercely, those that you feel belong to you”, he begins.  “I can see now why they sent me to speak with you”.  He chuckles.  “Thank you for speaking with me and giving me your opinion”.  He bows.  “I will let you go back to sleep now”.  And with that, the room is yet again clothed in total darkness.  I shake my head, then begin to once again burrow back into the bedcovers and find that sweet spot that provides deep release from the mundane plane of awakening, thinking as I do so, that it would depend upon whom one asks if that is really true for one learns many things while supposedly asleep.  I smile, then drift away.  To sleep.  Definitely.  Not. to. Dream.