on sleep

I love to sleep. Who doesn't love a good rest, really? I love my bed, but I even love to sleep in cars. And I do it, always. When Ben is driving I almost always fall asleep- driving home from church is one of my favorite napping times. When I am with other people I try really hard to not fall asleep. Sometimes I just can't help it. I catch my head bobbing forward like I have no control over it! When I was a little girl my dad had a diesel truck- in that thing, forget it, I went right to sleep every time.

As much as I love sleep, I don't go to bed early. I have always been a late night person more than an early morning person. Early to bed, early to rise hasn't really applied to me either- I am just happier when I get to sleep in, at least a little. More often than not I just stay up really late and don't really sleep in. I do, however "sleep in" according to what my husband thinks.

One of the great challenges of our marriage is sleep. He wakes up on a daily basis around 5am. I do not. On weekdays I want to stay up late because I am not tired, and on weekends Ben doesn't want to sleep in to enjoy a lazy Saturday. Often I will stay up watching a movie and Ben will be on the other couch fast asleep starting around 9pm. If I am having an exceptionally crazy bout of insomnia I will stay up staring at this computer screen until some ridiculous hour when my eyes get weary. You know, things have improved since we got a desktop computer. When we were first married I would quietly crawl into bed next to my husband, and then, with no warning, I would open the laptop and this light would blare on sleeping Ben. Sometimes he would look at me like I was crazy, sometimes he rolled over and barely noticed-- but he never complained. I wanted to sleep! I just couldn't... yet. Then I would finally fall asleep and not want to wake up the next morning until 10:00.

I feel, however, that as a grown woman I need to wake up at a grown-up time. It varies when I really need to get up though- If I am substitute teaching I get up at 6:30 and if I am working at camp I really don't need to get up until 8, sometimes 8:30 (unless it's a weekend and we start work at 7am... see, it's crazy!). Anyway, I always set my alarm for 7:00 on days when I don't have anything, just to feel a little more "grown-up".

As it is, I really do love sleeping. It may be more effective if I had a consistent pattern but I don't think it is in the cards for me. Maybe if someday I have a job that doesn't change day to day- maybe then I will get into the routine, or if we have children (in the far and distant future) I hear that children don't really allow you to pick your own pattern of sleep!... ugh... I think I need a nap...