Rant #2,777: Talking In Your Sleep

Yes, I did oversleep today.
 
Me, the guy who often has insomnia … I actually had just the opposite today.
 
I have no idea why.
 
Yesterday was a light day for me, not much work to do from my job, although I did answer several emails related to the job and things that should have already been in, but haven’t come my way yet—not my doing, I am waiting on people (things haven’t changed at all from when I was working full time).
 
I also had to reply to something from Social Services with my son related to his SNAP status.
 
SNAP is basically what food stamps are now called, and he is entitled to a very small stipend each month due to his disabled status.
 
The government okayed him to continue the program, but they wanted some more documents, which I provided,
 
No problem, and it was taken care of as quickly as I could get it out to them via both email and regular mail.
 
My son was off from work yesterday, so I drove him back and forth to a friend’s house, but it wasn’t a very long drive, although we did hit rush hour traffic on the way back.
 
So why did I oversleep for one of the few times in recent memory?
 
I have no idea.
 
I don’t even have any interesting dreams to tell you about.
 
Either I didn’t have any or I just don’t remember them.
 
So, again, why did I oversleep?
 
I cannot figure it out at all.
 
I guess you can say that I was simply tired, period.
 
I can tell you that I have never been a really good sleeper; as long as I can remember, I kind of sleep and I kind of don’t.
 
This is going back to my earliest days.
 
My mother has told me time and time again that as a baby, I simply would not sleep in the house.
 
I did my sleeping when she took me outside in the carriage, but as far as sleeping when I was supposed to … I must have kept my parents up all night with my discomfort.
 
And as I grew older, I slept, but I am the type of person who, in my younger days through my 30s, really didn’t need that much sleep each day.
 
I can remember days that I would literally stay up all night and not go to sleep at all, and this stretched well into my 30s.
 
I remember that I took my daughter to see the movie “Pocahontas” in Central Park, as I was one of thousands of winners of tickets to that special showing of the film.
 
My wife was pregnant with our son, so she did not go, but I took my daughter, we watched the movie, got back home, and I went right to work that morning, as I was delivering newspapers then to supplement my income.
 
I never slept a moment.
 
Then, in my 40s, the need for sleep kind of increased.
 
I could not do such things anymore, but for about the next 15 to 20 years, I would wake up at 4 a.m. in the morning during weekdays and go to work when I was ready to go.
 
I had the key to the entrance, so I could basically go whenever I wanted to, which I did.
 
Now, at 64 years of age and not holding a full-time job, I sleep, I don’t sleep, I wake up several times in the middle of my sleep … but I never sleep the entire night through.
 
(I will say now that I have been tested for sleep disorders, and none were found. I am just a lousy sleeper.)
 
Even last night, I must have gotten up three or four times, never sleeping the entire night through …
 
But I guess I was really tired, and I just kept going past my normal time to get up, which is around 6 a.m. in the morning.
 
Today, I got up at about 6:40 a.m., so for me, that is quite an oversleep.
 
What are your sleeping patterns, and have they changed over your lifetime?
 
I bet they have, maybe not like mine, but I bet they aren’t the same as when you were in yoiur teens and 20s.
 
And who knows what tomorrow’s sleep will bring?
 
Let me sleep on it.