Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Insomnia rears its head once again

One of the side bars of being almost 60 is the tendency for insomnia to affect me from time to time. I either have trouble getting to sleep or, like tonight, I wake in the mid hours tired but unable to return to dream land. It is too late to take an Ambien and too early to get up and dressed or start the coffee.

One of the things I find myself prone to do during this time is to worry. I will take the smallest of things and, before any time at all has passed, I have managed to inflate it into the largest of problems. Part of the reason seems to be lack of sleep, of course. I have to remind myself that everything will look better and be more manageable in the morning. The second reason for the worrying lately is the packing and the upcoming move. Added to this is the stress of kits due, classes to teach and travels planned before we knew the house would sell. I repeat to myself my Mother and Grandmother's adage, "This too shall pass" and so it shall and I will get everything done with help from my friends and my honey. I reassure myself knowing I don't have to do this all alone.

Tonight, as I often do when the mad beast, insomnia, hits, I turn on the light and read. This doesn't seem to bother E and it is much nicer to snuggle in the sheets and blankets and read than to relocate. For a long time now, I have been reading a series of books about the life of Ernest Hemingway. I had been missing two of the books in the series and was fortunate to find them at the bookstore in Key West at his house. I am 3/4 of the way through "Hemingway: The Final Years". It is a sad and sometimes troubling look at the disintegration of a writer, a legend. The author of the book has great sympathy for Papa but does not hold back in his assesment of his faults.

Off to read perchance to sleep.

3 comments:

Roz said...

I too am often plagued with insomnia...fortunately these nights produce some of my best work (painting, writing,crafting). Unfortunately, I still have to get up and out to teach the next morning!
If we get insomnia on the cruise, we can always go up on deck and stargaze...or people-watch ( it's always fun to see how alcohol, hormones, and the allure of the ocean mix when we are cruising).
My great grandmother made us all Sandman "dolls" for our beds when we were born. They were lovely music boxes with a lullabye from her childhood in Romania. She said that the sandman would visit and send us off into peaceful slumber.
Sending you wishes that the sandman visits you often!
Roz

JulesinParadise said...

Thanks darlin' Roz...we can sit on Dee and my balcony and star gaze with a glass of vino! Who cares if we get any sleep then!

madelineas said...

So sorry about this Jules. But I hear you on the worrying. Hope it gets better soon