Sleeping Beauty

I envy my wife.

She is a "sleeper".

Not the terrorist laying in wait for instructions to wreak havoc. But, one of those people that needs 9+ hours of sleep to feel rested.

Some of you may think that's a peculiar thing to envy. But normally, when she lays down she falls asleep pretty quickly. Granted her age (youthful though that be), stress, & hormones have been disrupting her usual ability to plop right out on occasion and she does have the occasional night of insomnia. But for the most part, she lays down, closes her eyes, goes to sleep and wakes up 9 or 10 hours later, usually refreshed. There are exceptions of course. As a busy mom, home school teacher, wife, homemaker, college student, etc. there are times when she has to cut short her normal sleep requirements.

I am the quite the opposite, if I am not just exhausted (or a bit tipsy) it can take me as long as 2hours to succumb to a fitful, thrashing, pseudo-sleep, that may last for 6-8 hours interrupted by several periods of wakefulness, that leaves me waking up in the morning thinking "CRAP, IT IS NOT ALREADY MORNING!" There is usually very little reason to lay there and try to squeeze in a little more sleep as it just isn't going to happen, my body is already sounding the alarm, letting me know in particularly unavoidable ways that it hurts. The only solution being to get up and inflict more pain upon it, until things begin to loosen up & the pain subsides to the point that I don't want to run out & rip the head off every person that dares to look into my eyes.

So after riding my bike (when weather permits), eating my breakfast, and drinking my coffee I plop down at my desk to begin my day of work. My desk is in our bedroom, sort of at the foot of the bed. So, I have a wonderful view of my wife as she lays there, first in deep sleep, then a little tossing as she begins her journey of wakefulness, then as she begins to slip back & forth between sleep & the new day, her foot begins to move back & forth.

As I look at her face (when she does not have it covered under the blanket) I am struck anew each day at her beauty. Her hair is not askew, her face is smooth & unwrinkled, she rarely creaks or pops when she gets up & starts moving around. She looks so good that most people that haven't known me for long think she is my daughter when they first see her.

My side of the bed is a dissaster area. The sheets & covers pulled off and in a tangle looking as someone is preparing them for laundry. Her side is the picture of neatness, looking as if she slid into a neatly made bed, laid motionless for the night and then slid out again in the morning leaving a barely noticeable disturbance of the covers.

When I wake up there are deep wrinkles etched into my face, my hair looks as if I went for a 10 hour ride in a convertible, and you don't want to hear about the pain in my joints, muscles...well it isn't pretty.

Now she is no morning songbird, she isn't what anyone would call verbose or really even communicative when she first wakes up, and she also is not particularly enthralled by being awoken with a kiss,

but I love seeing her poke her face out of the covers & blink her eyes trying to get them to focus on the day.

Watching Sleeping Beauty awaken is always a good start to a day.