When I was little, my dad would stop at Walmart on his way home from the Tribune. He would would buy me a toy and put in on my dresser next to my bed. I don’t know how often he did that, but it is one of my earliest and most vivid memories. I remember waking up, looking over, and seeing a reflection from the shadow of a box off the night light. I couldn’t wait to open it.
I remember opening the package, by the light of my snowman night-light. For some act of god, I didn’t love any of the pieces, the cape, or any of the gadgets that went with it. After I got the toy all set up and played with I got up and went to Dad’s bedroom. When I was little I always had a hard time sleeping. When I couldn’t sleep I would go sleep in my dad’s room. I don’t know how old I was but I couldn’t have been very old, because he still had the big bedroom, which would shortly thereafter become Jessica’s room.
That is not the conclusions of my nighttime adventures. I remember the time I sleep walked, or rather waking up the next day of the couch wondering how I got there. When my dad got up that morning he explained what happened. I walked down the stairs, mumbled something at him and then went to the couch.
But wait, there’s more. When I was growing up one of my friends was staying over, and apparently I sat up bed, yelled at him and said something I don’t remember, and layed back down. Going to bed always seemed to be an adventure for me.
Another story my dad used to tell was the story of my first night in my own bed. As he recalls, I went to sleep fine, but after a little while he heard a loud thud from upstairs. I had rolled out of my bed. Would I be awake when he found me? No. He put me back to bed and thought that was the end of it. Nope. About ten minutes later. THUD! I had rolled out of bed again! Once again I was still sound asleep. After that he put two chairs next to my bed. The next night he installed a rail to go along that side of my bed.
Next time you have trouble sleeping. Just think, it could be worse. You could wake up on the floor, couch, or two chairs, and have no idea how you got there. Thought for the week: early to bed, early to rise.