Sleepless in Somnia

I used to hate nights like tonight. When I was a kid, I'd have sleepless nights, and I'd worry myself sick over how unhealthy it was. Nice vicious cycle that was.

I remember a sleepless night before my first game as quarterback of Ruidoso Middle School. I'd always been a great athlete and had lead the Colts to Ruidoso's Little League Football Superbowl the year before in a 56-0 blowout, scoring all the touchdowns except for the two I'd thrown.

But I was a late bloomer. And by the time we'd started 8th grade football, I wasn't as dominant as I'd been, simply because I wasn't as physically developed as my teammates. And I was nervous about that first game, worried that I wouldn't dominate the other team, that I'd let my teammates and myself down, anxious that we'd lose. I had a tumutuous relationship with my father growing up (to put it kindly), but it was times like that when he really was there for me.

He must have heard me getting up to walk around, to go to the bathroom, to drink water, and he came downstairs and sat on my bed to talk to me. And told me stories of his football days, when he'd been a reciever on a great high school football team in Madison, Kansas. It didn't help me sleep, but it did calm me down. And I did finally get a few hours sleep that night.

And I got up the next day and helped my team to a victory against some middle school from Roswell. As an aside, I shattered my ankle into 8 pieces two games later as I ran a trick play around the end and got hit wrong. I wonder how much of that injury was from being underdeveloped but going all out against a bunch of men in pads.

As I've gotten older, the sleepless nights come more often. And I still don't like it much. But I embrace it. I use it to my advantage. I write. I play music. I go on walks through the wacky East Village. I watch TV. I read.

Tonight I had myself two 45 minute "naps", I guess you'd call it. Slept a full 8 hours last night though.

I average 5 or 6 hours of sleep anyway. That means I sleep 2 hours less than most people. That means I have 14 extra hours per week. That means I have four extra days per month of "awake time". That means I have 48 days extra per year -- the equivalent of a month and a half.

Sigh. How's that for a "flip it" of looking at insomnia upside down and making it a good thing.

PS. Speaking of "Sleepless"...Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith -- still can't tell them apart, despite all that plastic surgery. Or maybe it's gotten harder to.

PPS. Andy Roddick, Leyton Hewitt -- maybe it's just me and my lack of sportsfanmanship, but I can't tell them apart either.

PPS. Was going to note this. But tried googling it instead and found I am certainly not the only one thinking it.