When Sweet Husband and I started dating, we were working nights at a local restaurant. On a typical weekend I would get off of work at 5am. Occasionally I would get lucky, and get released at 2 am. As a survival mechanism, I learned a few skills to get me through my blurry eyed, sleep-deprived weekends. Especially the wee hours of the morning. After all the bars had last call, and the inebriated had satisfied their cravings for hamburgers and pancakes.
I studied lyrics to lesser known Disney songs, for our impromptu Disney trivia games. I mastered how to pantomime walking into a wall. Of course I worked on looking-busy-when-you’ve-completed-your-tasks-there-are-no-customers-AND-two-more-hours-until-you-can-go-home. I think the most important skill I learned, was how to sleep whenever I could.
One weekend my dad was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper and nursing a cup of coffee as I dragged myself through the door. I was exhausted.
“Hi stranger.” My dad greeted me “I was starting to wonder if you still lived around here.”
I smiled weakly, and dropped into a chair with the grace of a drunk elephant.
“I smell like rancid bacon.” I replied “I’ve been seriously considering moving into the storage closet at work. You can start forwarding my mail.”
My dad chuckled softly. “I need to go run a few errands. Why don’t you come with me? We’ll have some Daddy-daughter time.”
I hesitated briefly torn between a deep desire to crawl into bed, and wanting to see my dad for longer than thirty seconds.
“Can I sleep in the cart?” I asked.
When we arrived at the first stop, I lost no time in pulling a throw pillow in the bottom of the shopping cart my dad was pushing. I somehow managed to climb in the basket of the cart without breaking my neck. I curled up into an oblong shape, trying to contort by body around the sharp edges of the cart. Shopping cart baskets, were not made with sleeping teenagers in mind. I managed to find a comfortable position and blissfully fell asleep, with my dad pushing me around the store. Thank goodness he wasn’t buying bricks.
Imagine my surprise, a mere five years later, when I realized how difficult it is for me to sleep when Sweet Husband is away. It doesn’t matter if it’s one night, or a year’s worth of nights, sleep eludes me during the reasonable hours. No matter how tired I am, the moment I go to bed, I find myself wide awake. I’ll lay in bed for hours waiting to fall sleep. Go to sleep I tell myself sternly You’re going to regret staying awake so late. The sun comes up way to early. I know I’m right. I just can’t reason with myself. I’ll begin to pray. I’ll for Sweet Husband and the people with him. I pray for the boys, and for wisdom for me, so I don’t screw up raising them. I’ll pray for our families, and start praying for friends going through life changes. Sometimes I even pray for the people who make me want to scream. And when I come to the end of my list, and find myself still awake, I begin to wonder in which box I packed my ability to sleep.
Deployment, please end soon. The bags under my eyes are turning into a full size set of luggage.
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Something about the best laid plans.
We were inspired to start having a semi-formal sit down family dinner once a week. The plan is to have at least two courses and a dessert. No tv, no background music. The first week went smoothly. Dinner was delicious. Dessert was delicious. There was practically an ethereal glow surrounding the whole affair. The next week Sweet Husband was called away. Alex, Spain and I carried on, but the empty place at the table yelled at us the entire time, reminding us that we weren't complete. Then there was last night.
To make up for last week’s sad attempt at Family Dinner night, I planned on dinner AND a game. While I rushed around getting things ready for dinner, Alex sat in the couch and fell asleep. Napping is a highly unusual activity for Alex, but considering the busyness of our weekend I wasn’t too surprised to see him sleeping. What surprised me was burning my lips an hour later when I kissed his forehead.
Sweet husband came home, and moved Alex to our bed, where he slept for an hour before waking up. He stumbled into the living room and snuggled up next to Sweet Husband. The next hour was spent trying to cajole Alex into drinking or eating a little something.
Fast-forward another hour. Sweet husband had made a bed for Alex on the floor in our bedroom. Alex was sleeping, Sweet husband was sleeping. Spain was marathon nursing. By the time my head hit the pillow, I was already half asleep.
Then Alex woke me up at midnight… And again at 12:30. Our dog started whining because Alex was in his spot. Spain woke up and loudly announced that he was starving. Our cat started racing from one side of our bed to the other. Sweet husband, was somehow completely undisturbed by the midnight circus.
I got Spain back to sleep, then snuggled next to Alex until he went to sleep. The next step was evicting the cat and dog. The cat was unperturbed by being shut out of the room, but the dog was deeply wounded. The emotional wounds cut deep. If he had opposable thumbs he would have put on sackcloth and ashes. Instead he had to settle for verbalizing his despair. I went back to bed, trying to ignore the wailing from the dog. At this point Spain realized listening to other creatures lamenting made him hungry, while we nursed, Sweet husband got up let the dog in, who in turn woke Alex up, who wanted to discuss life’s mysteries with me.
Sweet husband did re-exile the dog, and I got to switch from the floor to my bed a few more times, before the night ended. Yes, there was more serenading from the dog.
Tonight I have dibs on the couch.
To make up for last week’s sad attempt at Family Dinner night, I planned on dinner AND a game. While I rushed around getting things ready for dinner, Alex sat in the couch and fell asleep. Napping is a highly unusual activity for Alex, but considering the busyness of our weekend I wasn’t too surprised to see him sleeping. What surprised me was burning my lips an hour later when I kissed his forehead.
Sweet husband came home, and moved Alex to our bed, where he slept for an hour before waking up. He stumbled into the living room and snuggled up next to Sweet Husband. The next hour was spent trying to cajole Alex into drinking or eating a little something.
Fast-forward another hour. Sweet husband had made a bed for Alex on the floor in our bedroom. Alex was sleeping, Sweet husband was sleeping. Spain was marathon nursing. By the time my head hit the pillow, I was already half asleep.
Then Alex woke me up at midnight… And again at 12:30. Our dog started whining because Alex was in his spot. Spain woke up and loudly announced that he was starving. Our cat started racing from one side of our bed to the other. Sweet husband, was somehow completely undisturbed by the midnight circus.
I got Spain back to sleep, then snuggled next to Alex until he went to sleep. The next step was evicting the cat and dog. The cat was unperturbed by being shut out of the room, but the dog was deeply wounded. The emotional wounds cut deep. If he had opposable thumbs he would have put on sackcloth and ashes. Instead he had to settle for verbalizing his despair. I went back to bed, trying to ignore the wailing from the dog. At this point Spain realized listening to other creatures lamenting made him hungry, while we nursed, Sweet husband got up let the dog in, who in turn woke Alex up, who wanted to discuss life’s mysteries with me.
Sweet husband did re-exile the dog, and I got to switch from the floor to my bed a few more times, before the night ended. Yes, there was more serenading from the dog.
Tonight I have dibs on the couch.