You'd think after nearly year of sleeping next to each other, my husband and I would be used it again. When he was commuting to Oahu, I got used to sleeping really well several days a week, and not so well when he was home.
Now, it seems that when one of us is sleeping, the other is tossing and turning - and that wakes up the other one, just in time for the first insomniac to fall into a fitful slumber. I doubt we're are getting quality sleep at any given moment on any given night - maybe at 4:30 am, when the alarm is just about to ring....
I have to admit I get a little cranky when I get subtly blamed (although I am sure I am doing my own level of subtle blaming - and in the middle I can harbor some very anti-social thoughts) for keeping him awake and making his day miserable. After all, I am the one who has to get up and go to work - and there is no auto-pilot work when you are in a classroom. Well, maybe for a teacher who has a lot of worksheets and desk work for kids, but even then, I doubt it.
I am embarrassed to be yawning in the Study Hall, yawning in my classroom, yawning on the walkways. I am frustrated by my desire to lay my head down on my desk during my prep period. I am so tired I want to cry. The only other time I have felt this tired while teaching was when I was pregnant with my second child. I would lock my classroom door and sleep during lunch - and be thoroughly embarrassed when the room cleaner caught me at it. I had a nearly two year old at home at the time and I was just exhausted. This isn't that bad, but almost.
This level of tiredness makes facing Age Group Track and a spell in a very busy concession stand to support the High School Cross Country Team tomorrow sound like and insurmountable obstacle. I want to sleep in and have time to do my laundry and my baking and try to clean my house. My younger son told me he is running in the relay, which makes me want to scream. (Not that I will ever tell him that). Relays are the last races - and sometimes the lights have gone on by the time they run those races. When you have been at the track since 8:00 am, this is really quite a long day. At least I am not coaching this year, thanks be to God.
Can you tell that I like Cross Country a lot more than Track and Field? Yup - at the most you have four races in XC, the terrain is varied and interesting and there are no horrible metal bleachers. Track meets are these 12 hour affairs and if you have a son doing high jump in the very early morning and running the 4 x 100 at the very end....12 exhausting hours you go home and you still have to face the baking and the cleaning and the washing....
Actually, I love Age Group Track. We've been doing it for years and it's a blast to see all the kids from the various schools growing up. I loved coaching, although I really am glad I am not doing it this year. I am a little daunted with the prospect of doing the concession stand during the lunch shift because Age Group Track pulls several hundred kids in for competition and their several hundred parents are there to watch them - and they all want chili bowl or braddah pops and the lines go on forever. My feet hurt already.
2 comments:
I can attest to the asynchrony of sleep when two people are trying to readjust to being together again - after 4 stressful years of intermittent visits each way from Maui and the OC, it seems odd that our sleep patterns haven't stabilized since I retired late last year. We do strictly adhere to the rule of "Always Kiss Me Goodnight". Bit by bit, there's been definnite progress. I haven't been able to sleep in until the wee hours of the morning (10-11-12) no matter what, though. My wife wins that, hands down, since she love to stay up waaaay late to read while it's so quiet (except for my snoring [I say it's really our dog!]).
I hear you. I can't remember the last time I slept straight through the night. Freakin Hormones! It sure wears you out. I suppose there's a reason why Ambien is so popular.
For what it's worth, I've found melatonin helps.
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