I was laying in bed, reading my book, when I finally got the wave of exhaustion washing over me that signaled I was ready to fall asleep. “That’s enough of that.” I said as I closed my book, put it on the nightstand then clicked off my bedside light.
I was asleep within moments.
What felt like hours later I woke up. Giving a big stretch, thinking it was close to morning I looked around the room feeling a bit confused. It seemed too dark to be close to my alarm going off.
That’s when I rolled over and looked at my clock. “Midnight.” I sighed. “That’s just great.” I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. “Okay, if I fall back asleep right this second I can get six more hours of sleep.” I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and hoped sleep would come quickly.
It seemed several hours later I was awake again. “Okay, that’s better.” I thought as I stretched my arms before noticing that the room still looked too dark for me to be getting up.
Rolling over again to look at the clock and I saw it was 2:00 AM. “Oh, come on.” I moaned, rolling onto my back again. Why was I waking up every two hours? “So, if I go back to sleep right now I’ll get 4 more hours.” I thought as I closed my eyes, trying to stop whatever racing thoughts were popping up trying to stop me from being able to continue sleeping.
Again, it seemed that several hours had passed when I was awake again. “This better be it.” I said as I looked over at my clock. It was 5:00 AM. “Close enough.” I sighed as I rolled out of bed, looked over at my husband Steven who was fast asleep, and headed for the bathroom.
Making sure the door was closed before turning on the light I looked in the mirror noticing that with a little make-up I could hopefully cover up the dark circles under my eyes.
Splashing some cold water on my face, before grabbing a towel to pat my face dry, I looked in the mirror again. “Good enough.” I sighed as I switched off the light before opening the door.
Once in the kitchen I put water in the kettle, clicking the switch to begin heating it. With roughly an hour before sunrise, I went into the living room, sat on the couch and watched several deer nibbling on the grass in my neighbor’s yard.
That’s when my son Alex came out of his room.
“Morning.” I said as I pointed to the kitchen. “I put enough water in the kettle for your coffee.”
“Thanks.” He said rubbing his eyes. “How’d you sleep?” He asked.
“Even though I felt like I got a good nights sleep I was up every few hours.” I sighed.
“How do you know that?” He asked.
I was confused. “Because I looked at the clock.”
“Oh, I never look at the clock at night.” He said as he went into the kitchen to get his coffee mug.
“Wait.” I got up from the couch and followed him to the kitchen. “How can you NOT look at the clock when you wake up in the middle of the night?” I asked as I got my cup out of the cabinet and got a tea bag out of the box. “How would you know how many hours you’d need to get a good nights sleep?”
Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve just trained myself not to look.” He shrugged his shoulders again. “Worrying about how many more hours I’d need would only stress me out if I did.”
I stood there thinking about what he said. I actually felt like I’d gotten enough sleep but the worry about waking up every few hours was the reason I was questioning how I felt.
Breaking into my thoughts Alex asked. “Do you want me to pour the water in your cup?” He was holding up the kettle.
“Please.” I said pushing my cup closer to him on the counter-top. “And to answer your question about how I slept?” I looked over at him and smiled. “Now, I’m going to say pretty good.”
Slice of Life 