Sleep

Sleep was underrated.  Well, it was underrated for me, until I suffered from jetlag, as I had never experienced it before. 

I flew in JFK on Monday evening, and then drove back to Saratoga.  I didn’t sleep much on my flights from Thailand, and I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep in my old bed.  My mom drove the entire way home, but I was wide awake, and we chatted the whole time.  When we got home I wasn’t tired.  We stayed up for about another hour and a half talking with my dad before going to bed at 2 am.  But guess who didn’t go to sleep?  That’s right.  This girl, right here.  I laid in bed until about 4:30 am.  

When my mom woke me up at 10, asking if I wanted a car for the day, I was completely confused.  I got dressed in minutes and dropped my mom at work, and took the car for the day.  I ran a few errands, had lunch with friends, and ordered my new phone (Siri is in the mail!).  In the evening the family went to Ellie’s for dinner.  Even though we were home before 10 pm, I couldn’t fall asleep.  And, it was well after midnight when I fell asleep.

Next thing I knew it was 5 am, and time to drive Chip and my dad to the airport.  I had volunteered to take them, and I was wide awake before my alarm even went off.  It is as though my body was allergic to sleep, and was excited to be awake again.  When I got back from the airport, I sat in the living room for a while, mostly talking about how crazy my dad has been lately, and then going upstairs to “try to sleep.”  With Wilbur as my foot warmer, I slept until 1 in the afternoon!  I was ecstatic.  It was just what I needed... Until that night rolled around.  My mom and I decided to go to TJMaxx to look for dresses for the wedding, to see if we could find anything better.  I fell asleep in the store.  While I was waiting for my mom to finish shopping I fell asleep standing by the door, waiting for her.  We immediately went home, and I went straight to bed.  I was so overtired that I had a minor freak out session.  I started crying, and my mom laughed at me.  But I went to sleep, and was out before 9 pm.  

...Until midnight.  And at midnight, I was wide awake.  I tossed and turned, knowing I would fall back to sleep.  And when I didn’t, it was time to pull out the big guns.  Sleeping pills.  My dad gave me two different types of sleeping pills to choose from.  There was one for a full night’s sleep: 7- 8 hours.  And the second would be more of a “nap” sleeping pill.  At 1 am, I chose the full night’s sleep.

I woke up feeling refreshed at 7:30 am.  I felt great.  Until the afternoon hit.  And I passed out on the couch for about an hour.  Okay, feeling better again.

That night I went to a Christmas party with a few of my friends.  I knew I had an early flight on Friday, so Nicole and I were home by 11 pm.  I finished my packing and was asleep around midnight.  I set my alarm for 5, but I was wide awake at 3 am.  Ridiculous.

I caught up on my television shows, read a handful of the blogs I follow and wrote a few emails.

Just as we were boarding our flight, at around 7:45, I decided to take a “nap” sleeping pill, to make sure I slept.  I am usually very against sleeping pills, but this jetlag has been painful.  And I really didn’t want to crash for the wedding weekend.  So, I took a “nap” pill.  Of course I fell asleep, but I barely woke up until we landed in Phoenix.  I was nearly comatose when we had our layover in Chicago.

But, here we are, in Scottsdale, and I feel fine.  Granted, that seems to change pretty quickly, but it’s 7:48 pm, and I’m still awake and communicating well.  

It looks like it will be a good weekend!