Zzzz....

Were you to ask my kids, husband, parents, sister, best friends – anyone who knows me well or has lived with me – about my favorite pastime, the answer would unanimously be… SLEEPING! I’d like to think that none would simultaneously characterize me as lazy, but sleep is indeed a cherished friend.

Even as a child I was a sleeper. My mom has often recounted her panicked conversations with my pediatrician about this baby who just slept and slept and slept. He wisely counseled her to just be grateful, and in 30+ years my sleepiness has not worn off. As a teen I remember routinely dozing until noon on Saturdays, and am still haunted by memories of being roused long before dawn on those dark, dreary Seattle school days. Torture I say. Pure torture. In college I embraced the night life in the dorms (wild as it was at my beloved conservative Christian school). But most every afternoon I made up for my night-owl ways with a cat nap. Fast-forwards to the months in which I was anticipating motherhood: the secretary at my accounting firm used to send me into an empty office for 15-minute power naps. I guess I looked like I needed it!

My mom worried that my sound sleeping habits would prevent me from being able to hear and care for my new baby girl in the night. Fortunately for me, God blessed me with a child that sleeps as well as I do, so those midnight rousings only lasted for a couple of weeks. And it really is quite remarkable how well I do hear the cries of my own needy children when I truly hear nothing else. Even now, seven years and two more kids later, I still occasionally follow the new-mom advice: sleep when they sleep. I'd pick a power nap over a daytime drama anytime!
The only other being that can disturb my sleep is the one I share a bed with. While perfectly adorable and an otherwise fabulous husband, Danny is the master of bed stealing and cover snatching. He is actually able to get the sheets wrapped completely around his body, leaving me with the option of either waking up entirely to unroll his 6’0” frame, or sleeping coverless. Even the advent of the sleep-number bed has not completely solved the “get off my side!” problem. The man has to roll uphill to steal my half… and he does!

So what do you think is one of the highlights of my anticipation of our vacation next week? Ding, ding, ding! You got it! Sleep. And not just any sleep, but uninterrupted, solitary sleep in my very own bed. We’re going on a cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 10th anniversary - our first ever big trip without the kids except for the few days in Vietnam before we picked up Reagan - and our perfectly dark inside cabin comes equipped with two beds! I’m fully aware that they can be squeezed together to make one queen-ish sized surface, but am very much looking forward to my very own space. Danny’s on board with this idea and knows that I won’t neglect the romance of the moment altogether. We’ll cuddle…etc… but then when it’s time to sleep, I will retreat to my own little sleeping cocoon! What could be better?!