Late Night ...

It's very early in the morning and I have yet to sleep. Perhaps this isn't exactly a true statement. I slept for about two hours in the early afternoon and awoke around 7:00 in the evening. I have learned that sleep must be taken when it is given. My being knows nothing of the normal ways of people. Therefore I take advantage of those moments when sleep comes easily without consideration for the possible ramifications. Perhaps if I had avoided that bit of rest earlier I would have easily slept tonight. It is unlikely, though. My times of insomnia are not usually cured by forced sleeping patterns. Instead, I find myself laying in bed all night with my thoughts raging in my mind when I try to force my body to adapt to the demands of a sleeping routine.

My lack of sleep often causes disturbances in my household. My dear husband is an early riser who prefers to go to sleep very early in the evening. My tendencies to be up throughout the night are often difficult for him because he misses me during the night. He often wanders out of our room, bleary eyed and half asleep, just to be sure I am okay. Sometimes, when I've fallen asleep on the sofa, he will turn out the lights and pull the covers around me to be sure I am comfortably warm. I try to warn him before he is asleep if I know that my night will be sleepless. If he knows that I will be up late, he tends to sleep better and worry less.

If my own sleeplessness were not enough to maintain the disorder and chaos in our lives, our youngest child also struggles with the desire to stay awake and the need to sleep. She, too, is a night owl like her mother. There are many nights that she tosses and turns in the bed, trying to find a comfortable position or trying to settle her restless thoughts so that she can sleep. (She inherited her ability to flip across the entire bed in 2 seconds flat from her father. I use to think he was the world's worst for flopping in the bed. He's now 2nd on that list... Marisa has him beat by a country mile.)

Now everybody in the house is sleeping soundly while I sit up and write. I may cook a proper breakfast for everybody today. I usually only cook a big breakfast for them on days like this when I have already been up all night. I don't do early mornings, but late nights are a completely different story. I'm not the least bit groggy or grumpy or irritable when I've been up really late like tonight. I'll eventually go to sleep - usually around 6:00 or 7:00 - and sleep for a few hours while Daddy keeps up with the wee beasties. Perhaps if I serve them all a gracious breakfast they will enjoy their day better and let me sleep all through the morning and into the afternoon... (after church, that is)