A night owl but not by choice

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “To Sleep, Perchance to Dream.”

Sleep is one-third of our lives: write a post about it. Do you love naps? Have trouble falling alseep? Wish you could remember your dreams? Remember something especially vivid? Snuggle under a blanket, or throw the windows wide open? Meditate on sleep.

Ahh, sleep.  Something I think about many times a day, as I yawn (and I just made myself yawn by thinking about it).  A self-confessed morning person, sleeping in for me means 6:30 or 7:00 am at the very latest.  This is great, I love the morning; the coffee, the sun rise, the dew on the ground.  Now, if my body would just cooperate on the sleeping part, things would be great.

I have good intentions; I try to go to bed before ten; you know, the actual lying down part.  Since my alarm goes off at 5:30 on most mornings, 9:30 should be the goal for slumber, providing I am aiming for a full 8 hours.  There are times when I can fall asleep pretty fast, but if my husband comes to bed later, or is watching t.v., I will wake up.  I am a very light sleeper; always have been.  Often, I wake up when a coconut falls and hits our dock outside, or if the neighbor’s dog barks or if a helicopter flies over (which creeps me out anyway at night).

On a good night after being awakened, I can fall back to sleep in about an hour.  Well, I could if it weren’t for the other problem.  My husband is out like a light and can sleep through a hurricane, but all the while, he is snoring.  Yes, I know I can get up and go to another room but then I’m looking at another hour to get settled.  Since I have written about snoring before; a fictional story in That’s absurd and the real deal in Sleeping with the Enemy I won’t elaborate further about that struggle here.

I tell myself that the one nap a week I allow myself, on Sunday afternoons, somehow makes up for it, but I know that isn’t true.  The only other time I nap is if I’m sick.

Tonight, as I turn down the thermostat and snuggle under the covers, I will dream (while I’m awake) of a full night’s sleep; the kind where you close your eyes and they don’t open again until morning, the kind I don’t remember ever having, although I’m sure I did in my younger days.  For now, it’s time to start watching the clock and attempting once again to “go to bed earlier”, a plan I’ve been working towards for months now.

And yes, I do have dreams too, but the ones I remember are few and far between and often feature snakes so we won’t go there.  Sweet dreams!