Sleep. I can remember the very first night that it left me. I had just been in the hospital for surgery and my parents and I went to Rockmere(our family cottage) so I could recuperate. Up until that point, I went to bed whenever I felt like it, the next thing I knew it was morning and I went about my day. I never gave sleep any thought, I took it for granted as I did being pain free and having lots of energy. It was a non-issue as many things were now that I have had the time to think back upon and it is amazing to me the things I just didn't think about.
Back to that first night. I don't remember the exact moment I awoke, but I remember walking down the stairs and going into the kitchen. I grabbed a pain killer and something to drink and then went back upstairs expecting to fall asleep.
One of my most beloved activities is reading. My grandmother taught me the value of a good book before I can remember. I still have a list of all the extra-curricular reading I did in kindergarten when I lived with my grandparents and it has something like 60 books on it. For a 5 year old that's pretty good. I never knew how valuable and life-saving that love of reading would become.
Again, back to that evening, when I couldn't drift back to sleep, I picked up my current book and got lost in another time and place and before I knew it, it was morning. This would become my routine for now as long as I can remember. Since that evening, I have slept the whole way through the night, 3 times. 3 times in 17 years.
Now, I sleep when it decides to take me. It's never for very long or very deep, but it does come. And now there is the computer to keep me occupied for those long hours when the house is quiet and my husband and dogs are asleep beside me. I have always loved the night, that feeling of being the only one awake in the whole world. There will always be books on my nightstand no matter where I am, no matter the time, no matter what. Sleep is no longer my best friend, but a wary partner that dances around and steps on my toes. We have gotten used to our dance, but it is lacking in substance.
Good night(or should I say good morning)
Melissa
Back to that first night. I don't remember the exact moment I awoke, but I remember walking down the stairs and going into the kitchen. I grabbed a pain killer and something to drink and then went back upstairs expecting to fall asleep.
One of my most beloved activities is reading. My grandmother taught me the value of a good book before I can remember. I still have a list of all the extra-curricular reading I did in kindergarten when I lived with my grandparents and it has something like 60 books on it. For a 5 year old that's pretty good. I never knew how valuable and life-saving that love of reading would become.
Again, back to that evening, when I couldn't drift back to sleep, I picked up my current book and got lost in another time and place and before I knew it, it was morning. This would become my routine for now as long as I can remember. Since that evening, I have slept the whole way through the night, 3 times. 3 times in 17 years.
Now, I sleep when it decides to take me. It's never for very long or very deep, but it does come. And now there is the computer to keep me occupied for those long hours when the house is quiet and my husband and dogs are asleep beside me. I have always loved the night, that feeling of being the only one awake in the whole world. There will always be books on my nightstand no matter where I am, no matter the time, no matter what. Sleep is no longer my best friend, but a wary partner that dances around and steps on my toes. We have gotten used to our dance, but it is lacking in substance.
Good night(or should I say good morning)
Melissa
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