sleep is the bomb

I mean, it just is.

Yesterday, I could not imagine posting about gratitude. I thought I wanted to blog like Heather Armstrong of Dooce, all in uppercase, venting, sassy and sarcastic. I just didn't have the energy. I was wiped out, aching physically and emotionally.

Today, I am back. Full of affection and patience and happy to hear the birds chirping before dawn.

And all because I went to sleep before 11 pm. It is miraculous, really, the transformation. I wonder how people with chronic insomnia do it. I have friends who toss and turn all night and still go to work, parent their children and seem perfectly pleasant. I am weaker than they.

I understand why people might become addicted to their medical sleep aid. If I had a choice of feeling the way I do this morning, every day, versus the way I felt yesterday, every day, and I could take a pill to make the difference, I would. Without question. So, I hope those scientist folks keep working to make safe, effective medicine for insomniacs; the current side effects are unacceptable. But I digress. I just feel so thankful that I can sleep when I want to, in bed, on a plane, in a train, in a car. I rarely if ever have troublle sleeping, and when I do, I find that 15 minutes in the hot tub makes falling back asleep a non issue.

And that is a very good thing for mankind, and especially for the segment of the population known as my family. Because without sleep, there is a bit of a Dr. Jekyll/Mrs. Hyde thing going on in our house. At the time, I think I am perfectly rational for being angry at (almost) everyone in my household and about everything. (I'll admit, there is one person in this house I cannot seem to get mad at, but still, if sleep deprived, I will snap at him by day's end as well.) Best for all to steer away from me and say as little as possible. Of course, nobody does this. I am the functional center of this household, the primary source of food, massage, and many other forms of assistance. I do not wear a sign around my neck on those rare sleep deprived days, but perhaps I should, to remind both of us.

DIDN'T SLEEP
STAY BACK

Perhaps I'll make one today, while I am prepping to teach Van Gogh to the first graders this afternoon. We will be recreating Starry Night today, as an oil pastel mosaic on 48 pieces of oaktag/posterdboard. I promise to post the result. It will
surely be beautiful. So, if there is oaktag left over, I'll make that warning sign and file it away for the next time I do something stupid like staying up to clean and throw stuff out until 2 am on a school night. And I'll hope not to need it for a very long time.