7 March 2010 Sleeping in should be easy

7 March 2010 Sleeping in should be easy


I fully intended to sleep in this morning. Something awakened me at 0500. From that point I made every effort to drop back into solid sleep. But I never found the path back. It seemed as if every 15 minutes I was staring at the alarm clock, trying to avoid rolling out of bed. Finally, around 0730 I gave up and got up to avoid waking Gloria. Make the coffee, drag the dot, stoke up the stove, retrieve the paper, take my morning meds, the whole routine kicked in and here I sit, having had less sleep than on a normal day.

There’s every probability that I will spend the evening dozing and snoring on the couch, trying not to drop off but unable to prevent it. I hate falling into that classic caricature. I’d like to think I’m able to avoid aging so inelegantly. But I find myself fitting into the classic rhyme by Carroll:

“'You are old, Father William', the young man said,

'And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head --

Do you think, at your age, it is right?'



'In my youth', Father William replied to his son,

'I feared it might injure the brain;

But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Why, I do it again and again.'”

Of course, I do not stand on my head. My neck and back would quickly remind me that such unwanted compression should never be attempted again. But the positions that result from dozing off on a couch do result in some rather painful reminders that the spine, alone, will not support the human head while the body checks out briefly.

Further honesty requires that I admit my hair is rather more gray than white where it was once black. And I am pleased to admit that I have decreased in girth and mass over the last several months. I’m not really certain what is the source of such reduction. Attending classes three days/week has limited hikes with Mike. I’ve not really changed any eating patterns that I can think of. All the lab numbers were good at the last sampling interval.

Most of my bad habits no longer have hold over me. Yet I enjoy life far more than I once did. Thank you, Gloria, for prolonging my life and giving me reason to enjoy the prolongation.

Back to the matter of somnolence, in search of longer repose. I’m game for another attempt tomorrow morning. Film at 2300.