It's All in the Genes!

     Yup, another one of those nights! Sleeps escapes me once again. 

 

Part of this sleep issue is symptomatic (my port is getting put in in just a few short hours...yikes!) and part is hereditary. I'm blaming my Dad for that part!  

 

     Dad was a farmer all his life. He worked hard and we got every last minute of work time jam packed into each and every day. Work time was utilized to the fullest as we grew up!

 

At night, while the rest of us headed to bed, Dad would sit at the kitchen table reading, enjoying his heaping bowl of ice cream (he stayed skinny his whole life!!!), and then chewing on his ever-present toothpicks. I cannot remember him ever reading a book but he read every other piece of written material that came in the mail. A couple favorites were our local small town papers (The Dickinson Press and the Killdeer Herald), numerous farming magazines (Successful Farming and The Farm Journal), and "The Advertiser", a paper chucked full of buy, sell, rent, or trade type ads. About 2am, he would finally wander off to bed. By 6am, he was up making and enjoying his coffee, ready to hit the ground running again.

 

     I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse, but I'm pretty sure I inherited a good chunk of Dad's "stay-up-late-at-night" gene.

 

     I went to bed early...10:30 and slept until 1:35. Then, my eyes popped open and my mind started tumbling around hundreds of thoughts.

 

I tried all of the usual tricks to fall back asleep but none worked. Those tumbled thoughts kept interfering. After lying there for a couple hours waiting for sleep to come, I decided it was futile! May as well get up and do something productive! Therefore, another addition to the blog is created.

 

     One of the reasons sleep was illusive is because my body, from the waist down, is screaming at me. It is protesting the workout I gave it yesterday when we dealt with our flooded basement (think...a kazillion trips up and down the steps). I didn't think I overdid it at the time we were dealing with "all things soggy" but my body is sending me a different message. So calming that screaming body should be an easy fix, right? Two ibuprofen should do the trick! 

 

     Ahhh, therein lies the problem!

 

The nurse who called with pre-surgery-get-that-darn-port-in instructions said nothing to eat or drink after midnight...and it is well past that magic hour!

 

So I tried lying there quietly, then look at clock, turn to one side, nope, try the other, fluff pillow, look at clock, lay flat, rearrange pillow, throw off blankets, re-gather blankets, look at the clock, and on and on.

 

     And then it happened! 

 

My stomach rumbled! Now, besides not being sleepy, I am also HUNGRY!  AAARGH!!!

 

Again I am blaming that nurse who called with the pre-surgery-get-that-darn-port-in instructions..."No food or drink..."

 

     So, it is now 4:03am, the alarm is set to go off in 57, 56, 55, 54 minutes and I am sitting at the kitchen table, much like my Dad had done so many times during his lifetime. Yes, I am blaming Dad for that crazy "stay-up-late-at-night" gene.  I'm pretty sure that one is his fault!

 

     Why, oh why, couldn't he have given me the "stay-skinny-all-your-life" gene instead!!!!!!!