Enter Sandman

As a child, I find it difficult to will myself to sleep. If I’m not sleepy and it’s bed time, I’ll spend a couple of hours on my back, alternating counting sheeps and creating stories in my mind to tire myself out and finally catch the attention of the elusive Sandman. Or I’d grab my all-time favorite snorefest classic, HG Wells’ Silas Marner. That my friend will surely put me to lala land in a deep coma!

I am an avid reader and I stay up late at night till the fringes of dawn start peeking through my window, just reading books. But my brain just has to draw the line when it comes to Silas Marner. It’s a fairly short book but I never get past page 4 without rereading form the beginning. I get lost in the detailed narrative and imagery that I completely get sidetracked putting two and two together and before I know it, I don’t know what the plot is all about.

I digress. Here I am again with my overactive mind and its way past midnight. Writing it down may help cure me from this insomnia. Maybe, thinking of the words to express my frustration in catching zs will help me summon sleep. When I laid my head on my pillow earlier, I automatically uttered my childhood prayer, “Dear God, help me sleep now so I can wake up early tomorrow.” As soon as I whispered this prayer, I knew sleep will be hard to come by.

I thought to myself what about tomorrow that is so important that I need to get rest now? What was tomorrow like for me when I was a kid? What did I look forward to? All I could remember then was school, tests, and more tests. Now, I know tomorrow will bring office, work, and more work. Life was so much simpler then. And although to my young mind, school was work too…at least it came with the knowledge that there are summer breaks and games and friends bundled in THE package.

As I shut my eyes tonight, I hope God will grant me a restful sleep to make up for all the youthful joy I had to exchange for becoming an adult.