Monday, November 17, 2008

Why I Don't Take Naps

We were driving home down I-40 the other day, me in his car and him following with the van on our way to pick up the kids. Traffic was moving fine but it was clogged. It was like the first week after summer break when parents are out taking kids back to school and getting in routine. The roads are full of people who aren't quite used to driving in traffic so there is a lot of stopping and starting and a feeling of confusion.

When I do get to drive his car, I get to listen to music loud and alone, and, well, it just feels better to drive a car than it does to drive a van. Ahead there were some taillights and swerving, so I moved with the music and cars to avoid some one's lost something from the back of their car that had fallen out and was now laying in the middle of the road. I got through that and suddenly a pick-up lost an entire load of produce in front of me. I swerved again. Suddenly I was swerving to just avoid traffic as it piled up on itself, and somehow I managed to swing my way through a huge mess of fender benders and random items all over the road. I pulled over to breathe. There were wrecks in both directions as far as I could see.

I picked up the phone to make sure Patric was okay. The phone told me it was running out of battery and started trying to connect me to the Internet. I hit the phone in the palm of my hand a few times when it wouldn't do as I asked. Suddenly it rang.

"Hey. Are you alright?" I was frightened.
"I think so."
"What? What do you mean. Answer the question. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I guess," his voice was agitated now.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's not over here. There are still trembles."
"What?"
"Where are you? We just had an earthquake."
"Oh no."

And I woke up on the floor of the boys room having a small heart attack from having just driven through the wreckage caused by and earthquake. And I looked up still in terror to see Ben's shark book was tented over his face as he snoozed and Nicholas stirred hearing me. I told him to go back to sleep, and I stumbled downstairs thinking it was an hour later than it was and saw Patric relaxed and watching football as my heart beat through my chest.

That is why I don't take naps. I sleep hard when I finally go down and getting that messed up in the head instead of refreshed is not worth it.

I know.

You could care less about my dreams.



You came here to see kids.



Here you go.




4 comments:

The Kings said...

Between this and the nightmares from the Mud-Island-bridge-age-everyone-20-years-episode, you just aren't meant to sleep.

The Dukes said...

Okay, that was a little nerve wracking to read through!

I agree- one hour of non-restful sleep is so not worth it. Better to zombie around the house, check e-mail and fold a load of laundry.

Thanks for the gratuitous kid pics!

Anna said...

yeah, i don't know about everyone else, but i definitely read the blog for cute kids' pictures and stories. but the story about your nightmare was definitely suspenseful and well written. i swear you could write for a magazine or a book or something. but i tell you that all the time - and my favorite thing is that you hardly ever have typos or grammatical mistakes. but i digress.

Anonymous said...

Just a thought- Maybe this is why Alida doesn't sleep. Maybe she has the terrible, weird dreams too and thinks it's easier to just not sleep.