A Rested Development, August 20th

I have always been a good sleeper. As a baby I slept, well, like a baby! Naps were terrific and I was cool with an early bedtime. Even as a young teen when I hosted my own slumber parties, I was the very first one to be passed out cold. In camp I once fell asleep head first into my plate of spaghetti and meatballs. (I was five, but still.)

In college I was never a super late-night partier, but I’d wake up on weekends at a reasonable time, like 10 or 11am. Whereas my son, who definitely inherited the sleeping gene, can be completely crashed out all the way to 2 or 3pm no matter what time his previous night ended. And he’s been known to take a pre-dinner snooze and wake up at 10pm ready for dinner. Who can sleep for that long? Or eat dinner after the 10 o’clock news? Certainly no adult that I know.

Now that Matty is a college grad and interviewing for a full-time serious job, I was telling him recently about my first out of college job experience. I was a creative group assistant at Grey Advertising. Sounds schmancy but I got coffee, picked up paychecks, and did light typing on an IBM Selectric, so actually not that fancy! And for the first few weeks as a newbie, I’d arrive back at my apartment that was a mere three block walk from the office, eat dinner, and be in bed and ready to sign off before 7pm. I was just so exhausted from sitting at a desk for 8 hours in a row! I hadn’t ever done that before and found the transition from college to day job depleting.

My sleep schedule now is a total mess. The other weekday I was up from 4am-7am so I cranked out some good copy during my pre-rooster-crowing hours. Finally I took a nap from 7-8 and then showered to be at my desk for work by 9. Ugh. Not an ideal schedule to say the least. But since I know that I’ve been having irregular sleep patterns, instead of fighting them, I just try to be as productive as I can during my waking hours, even if they occur during total darkness! Now that’s a rested development.

Also I’ve noticed that even if I’ve been in bed for a while writing, but then I pop out of bed to wash up and get ready for actual sleep, when I get back into bed, I’m just so happy that the day is over and now I get to turn off my brain and rest my weary bones. Jeez I sound like a geriatric, but it’s true. I love going to sleep!

So from my happy pillow to yours, sweet dreams. But if you’re up at an odd hour, call me… I just might be typing something funny, but I’d welcome the company!