I remember it was when I was about four. The busy day was over. We had finished supper, taken bath, brushed our teeth, and the only remaining task of the day was to go to bed and sleep. According to my memory, my mother and I were the only ones in the living room of our tiny half-dilapidated apartment. My baby brother must have already been asleep, and my father could have been away on a business trip. In any case, it was just me and my mother in the room.
Wearing pajamas, we were watching a news program on TV together, which was quite a common evening scene at the time. What was unusual, however, was that my mother didn’t make me go to bed when the news program ended and another show started. Unlike her usual self, she was completely relaxed and seemed to be enjoying watching the TV. I carefully observed her, but since she didn’t tell me to go to bed, I decided to stay with her for some more time.
The TV show was about two singers who grew up together. It was a combination of their performances and the documentary of their life. My mother and I listened to their stories, made comments about them, and laughed when they said something funny. One hour passed like that, and my mother still didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that I was awake far past my bedtime.
There was an intermission at 9 pm and a short news program started. I was most certain that my mother was finally going to send me off to bed.
“What time do you think it is? We’ve passed your bedtime already!”
I expected to hear this familiar phrase. However, when the news program started, my mother didn’t break her relaxed mood. Instead, she brought two blankets for both of us, and said,
“How about lying down and watching the rest of the show?”
In our tiny apartment, there wasn’t such a fancy thing as a sofa in front of the TV. Due to the spatial constraint, our tiny sofa was located vertically to the TV, an inconvenient place to watch the TV from. So, my mother and I literally lay down on the floor in front of the TV screen covered up in the blankets. We watched the rest of the TV show like that.
As I watched the TV lying down on the floor with my mother, I thought to myself that this was the coolest thing she had ever suggested. It was almost too dreamy to be true.
Once the show was finally over, my mother and I both went to bed together, and the happy moments of this surreal night were kept in the treasure box of my memories.