Seed: Sleep nomad
I am a sleep nomad. I wander from room to room, looking for the perfect place in which to slumber. Freakishly attuned to noise, I toss and turn. A cricket outside my window keeps me awake. The sound of my neighbor playing music keeps the Sandman at bay. Not being able to sleep is a terrible feeling. I am in total empathy with the insomniac.
I'm told that when I was an infant, it was almost impossible to get me to sleep. My parents would place me on their bed and my father would bounce the mattress up and down. The movement would eventually soothe me and I'd nod off. In childhood, I needed white noise to mask the sounds of the night, and started sleeping with a fan next to my head, even in winter. The college years were the worst: my poor roommate would get up and shriek at the rowdy girls running up and down the halls at 2 o'clock in the morning: "Will you please settle down? We've got a test in the morning!" They didn't care.
It only got worse when the boys were born. I was attuned to every cough, wheeze and gurgle. Whoever invented the baby monitor must have been a sound sleeper. That thing drove me crazy!
My husband jokes that I can hear the sound of the sheets rustling before he even gets into bed. Sometimes he moves into the guest room in order to make sure I get a good night's rest. How I envy him his sleeping habits. When we turn in, I know I've got at least a half hour of tossing and turning before I can get to sleep. SO, on the other hand, is gone in five minutes, snoring lightly and making me glower with envy. How does he do that? Sport is the same way. He can be in the middle of a sentence and conk out. LegoGuy, once he's ready to settle down, doesn't have much difficulty either, unless he's had too many glasses of iced tea. Then I can hear him pacing the hallway, looking for a spot where he can get comfortable.
Ever play that game where someone throws out, "Would you rather?" Would you rather be burned or drown? Would you rather lose your legs or your arms? Would you rather go blind or deaf?
I know I'd miss the sound of music, the chirps of birds, or the voices of my children, but I'd rather lose my hearing. At least I'd finally get some sleep!
posted by Adjective Queen @ 12:55 PM,
