Monday, August 2, 2010

Midnight Games

Midnight Games

There are two stages of life that most humans sleep in three to four hour segments— infancy and old age. As a wee one, when you awoke in the middle of the night, you were fed and then either fell back to sleep or were rocked back to lullaby land in your Mama’s arms or something snuggly like a carriage or cradle.

But, alas, the same two methods don’t work for we old(er) folks. If I conk out before ten—way before—I’m up for “the night” around midnight. When this habit started a couple of years ago, I raided the fridge for a midnight snack. As healthy as this is for wee folks because the calories are needed for their growth and well-being, it doesn’t work the same for old folks like me. We’re at the age where we’re shrinking lengthwise, and extra calories will have us growing outwards instead of restoring height. Even worse, a few sips of warm milk may make me sleepy, but unless the milk is accompanied by warm chocolate cake or several chocolate chip cookies, I gag. Obviously, the late night snack is not a sleep remedy for me. Being “rocked” in someone’s arms is a bad idea in my house also. Snuggling next to a husband who has a tendency to snore in my ear won’t ever lull me back to sleep.

Lately I have noticed a tremendous amount of the jokes I’ve received have been sent during the hours most folks prefer to be sleeping. One friend, when asked why, told me when she wakes from her early evening night “nap,” she finds spending time at the computer lulls her back to sleep like rocking probably once did. At her suggestion, I “hit the computer” at midnight a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the first email I opened was politically toxic so it had quite the opposite effect that I yearned for.

Since then, the only “midnight” emails I open are obvious jokes or message of how blessed I am to have so many fantastic and wonderful friends. Smiles and compliments usually relax me enough to be able to hit the sack again. Last night, however, when done reading and sending the belly laughs or sentimental slop on, I still didn’t feel the urge to return to bed. Instead, I switched to Facebook to “spy” on my kids and grandkid’s lives. When reading anything my family posts on Facebook it is best for me to never comment, no matter how much I want to do so. I surmised this because just about every one of my comments is instantly “hidden.”

Anyway, back to the point. I glanced at the “who’s on” list on Facebook and immediately realized I had enough gal friends who had also arisen from their “evening nap” to either make a Bridge or Mah Jongg game. Does anyone know of a site we can all access simultaneously so we can play a game together instead of just chatting our sleeplessness away? It seems like such a waste of time to simply write, “You up too?”

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