One of life’s great joys happened to me last night. Not just
once, but twice.
Last night, Katie and I filled our respective bellies with
chips, salsa, and enchiladas from our favorite local Mexican spot. Then we moved
on to Curious Gourmet (only because Ivey Cake was closed) for a Lemon Basil
cupcake (with the frosting piled so high we threw half of it away…heresy!) and
then home for some French press coffee. Well, to say the least, all was right
in the world. Katie settled in the back room for an overdue phone call with a
friend, and I settled on the couch for an overdue date with a Wal-Mart
documentary I’ve been wanting to watch (nerd alert!).
About 45 minutes in, I start nodding off. Bad. Like someone
had roofied my coffee. You know, the whole head-violently-falling-into-your-chest
thing. After a couple of those moments when I thought I was falling off the
couch (or out of an airplane), my heartrate had skyrocketed and I was alert for another hour or so,
just enough time for us to fast-forward through the American Idol results show
we’d recorded.
At this point, it’s only 10:30 but I’m barely keeping my
eyes open. We’d gone to bed around 1 a.m. the night before, so this was a bit
on the early side. Teeth brushed, lights out, kiss goodnight…ZZZZzzzz.
I casually woke up (as I often do around 4 or 5 a.m.)
feeling hungover and/or dead. With a heavy sense of impending doom, I slowly
turned my head toward the alarm clock glowing in the darkened room to my right.
I feared the worse: that it was only 30 minutes or so before the alarm, which
means my mind wouldn’t allow me to get back to sleep. If I know I have to get
up soon, I can’t for the life of me go back to sleep. In fact, I never actually
need an alarm because my body automatically wakes up beforehand. This is only
one of the joys of being me. Welcome to my world.
Knowing this, I was certain that my day was beginning. I
didn’t want to look at the clock at all because it was going to be bad news.
But the only thing worse than knowing something is NOT knowing something, so I
made myself look.
But something didn’t look right. Now, if you know me, you
know that without glasses or contacts, I have the vision of an 85 year-old bat.
As you can imagine, at night it’s worse. So here I am, pressing my face closer
and closer to the green glowing numerals until they come in clear. 11:58.
11:58?? Really? It’s not even midnight yet? Oh Hallelujah! I’m not even usually
in bed at this point! I have an ENTIRE NIGHT of sleep remaining. Oh Heavenly
Day!
With a cozy sense of relief and joy, I snuggled back under
the covers and pulled the comforter up close.
Then it happened again! I woke up, this time in a heated
fear that the house might be on fire because I’M BURNING ALIVE! I violently
throw the comforter off and begin wiping the sweat from my face, neck, and
torso. Katie’s awake too doing the same thing. I jumped up to turn the heat
down (when I say “jumped up,” think “stumbled like a wino across the bedroom”)
and came back to bed. Another glance at the clock: 12:48. What? We went to bed
later than this the night before! AHHH…Glory to the Lord of Hosts on high.
Twice in one night, I thought my sleep was over. Twice I was
given the gift of many more hours of sweet slumber.
Needless to say, I woke up refreshed and ready to take on
the day. Lots of writing to do today, quite a few items on my to do list…but I’m
prepared.
Maybe after just the tiniest of naps.
(rw)