The Lion's Lair

It's 4 am. I'm wide awake. Well, I should be asleep by then... if it weren't for someone suddenly texting me at this unholy time. (Mental note... strangle the person on sight upon next meeting.) Well... nothing left to do but try to go to sleep again.

Unfortunately... I can't! Oh no! Not again! But yes... there I was. Hit by a bad case of insomnia. You'd think after a couple doses of a powerful narcotic drug, I'd be sleeping like a baby by then. Such was not the case. This is how it feels like at this point in time. Your eyes feel heavy. You're numb all over your body. Your head feels as if it's floating on air. At the same time there's this banging sensation in your skull. Top it off with the fact that you can't sleep!

I turn on the electric fan. Maybe a cool breeze would lull me to sleep. Two minutes later I had to close it. I was shivering in my bed! Back to the covers again. Another two minutes... get up... turn on electric fan... it was getting warm! Fine! I had the electric fan point towards the ceiling. Back to my bed. Under the sheets. I then remember those wonderful days when I would be in my bed... my body feeling the warmth of another. Snuggled comfortably and peacefully against each other throughout the night. Unaffected by the chilling breeze coming through the window. <Sigh!> (Mental note: Never forget to bring my dog to the bedroom ever again!)

Ok... look at watch... 4:15 am. Oh my! <sigh!> ok... start counting sheep then. 1...2...3...4... by the time I reached "5" I realized that I was counting without visualizing the sheep. Somehow, my brain had momentarily forgotten what a sheep actually looked like. Yep! I was really heavily drugged.

Get up... pace room... do jumping jacks... run in place... anything to get me tired. And it did! Oh joy! It did! Went back to bed and started to fall asleep when... YEOW!!! I bolted up and grabbed my right leg... CRAMP! Oh why?!?!? As I massaged my leg to relieve the pain I again looked at the watch... 4:45. <mommy!>

Then I thought of drinking something. Milk keeps me awake but coffee lulls me to sleep (strange but true!). I get up... open the door and step out of the bedroom. I am greeted by darkness and a cold floor. Then... I lose my nerve. I suddenly remembered those ghost stories that we were talking about last Friday during the Toastmasters meet. Go back in the bedroom... lock the door... back to my bed. Now what?

Finally... I decide to just get on with it and open my laptop and write this article. The system time tells me its now 5:21. And I am finally... thankfully... sleepy at last! =) I can finally drift off to slumber land! Merciful Sandman has finally answered my prayers! And I shall now turn off my laptop and go to sleep...