…and I’m wide awake. Again.

This is getting old now.

It’s not fun. Not by any means.

Children like to see how long they can stay awake every night; how long their parents will let them stay up before they’re forced to go to bed. And of course they fall asleep instantly. And sleep through the night.

Enjoy it now, kids! While you can. Because not being able to sleep through the night is no fun! You’re worn out the next day, and by the afternoon you’re ready for a nap. Unfortunately your employer frowns on that…

Lately I’ve been having too much experience in this area. So are far too many of my friends. And my daughter as well; but she’s pregnant and close to her due date so that’s expected. We’ve all joked that we should text each other when we’re awake and just have girl talk til we fall back asleep. That’s about the only remedy we haven’t tried!

My husband used to ask me every morning after this happened, “Well why didn’t you just go back to sleep?” Yes, I wanted to strangle him every time he asked! If I could’ve gone back to sleep do you think I’d have stayed awake!??

He’d also foolishly ask, “Why couldn’t you sleep? I have no problem!” Ugh.

Husbands, watch what you say to your wife! Because now guess who else is having the same problem!! I won’t say it’s payback or anything, but…

When this happens to him, his solution is simple. He gets up, goes downstairs, and watches tv and drinks coffee. Of course he doesn’t go back to sleep, and then that evening he’s falling asleep at 8:30!

And of course when he gets up, he wakes me up… He doesn’t try to. It just happens.

I’ve tried everything I can think of. Melatonin. Hot tea before bed (and I don’t even like hot tea!) A glass of wine before bed. Hot chocolate. A warm bath. Listening to my favorite cat purr in my ear. Reading until I fall asleep…. And still, I have too many of these nights.

When a friend of mine was in Afghanistan several years ago I’d wake up three or four nights a week at 3:20 in the morning. Always that same time. I knew I was supposed to pray for her. I did, and then I promptly fell back to sleep.

But this is different. Now I wake up at different times. And I try to figure out why each time. I’m usually not worried about anything. I think about my friends, and I pray for them. I pray about our kids and our soon-to-be born granddaughter. I sometimes count sheep, or in my case, cats. I make a few notes about things I need to do the next day. And after tossing and turning for what seems like forever, I usually fall back asleep about 5:00 in the morning, a half hour before my alarm goes off!

So now I’m trying something new. I’m blogging about it. It probably won’t help either, but it lets me vent!

If you’re having, or have had, this problem, I’d seriously like to hear your thoughts on it. Who knows, we may add you to our growing list of insomniac friends And maybe we can find a solution!

Because I really need one!