Sunday, April 15, 2012

Sleep (first draft)


I never have figured out why sleep eludes people at night, but the moment the alarm sounds, it seems there is nothing a person can do except think of sleep.  Tonight is one example.  I have dutifully set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. in the morning.  This is, after all, the best way to ensure I wake up for church.  Regardless of my calculations and planning, I'm still awake at 2:45 a.m.  With only a few hours until the heart-attack, sounding buzzer will sound off in my ears, I'm wide awake and typing on a screen without a care in the world. Naturally, morning will present a different problem.

I will likely roll over as the buzzer sounds, hit the snooze button, and drift off back into some forgettable dream that I'll be having at that time.  In a few bleak moments, the alarm will sound again and I'll find myself once again considering the effects of hitting that snooze button.  If I'm wise, I'll go ahead and get up, face the day, and hope that the result of my early morning bravery will result in a restful slumber in the evening to come.

Consequently, I know what will come to pass.  I'll stumble around, moody, most of the day, complain about something in the evening and once again find myself driven back to the computer screen where I'll type out some other collection of words to pass the time.  

Sometimes I think there should be a magic pill to make people sleep, and then I'm reminded there is such a pill.  In fact, there are several such pills as Ambien, Trazodone, and many other sleep aides right up the non-habit, forming Benadryl.  Naturally, each of those sleep aides comes with a long list of potential side effects, the worst being death.  No thank you, I'll take my chances with a good book, a few minutes in front of a blank computer screen, or even the moody problems of the next day.  Besides, when the day finally does arrive with that sounding buzzer, I can always place my dependence on a caffeine filled drink to brighten the day.  Then, if for some reason I fail to calculate the correct amounts of caffeine needed to keep me awake during the day only, I'll find myself once again wide awake and wondering just what could be keeping me awake all night.

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