Awake, alas
Let me take a moment to mention something important. The ability to sleep, without interruption, on demand; wasted on the young. It’s something that senior citizens want, and need, and lack. The old fellow, over in the armchair, with his eyes closed… not actually sleeping. Just wishing. No, he is not snoring.
Here I am, hours after bedtime. Not asleep. I don’t self-medicate, and all of the relaxation techniques fall short. Counting sheep? It doesn’t work worth beans. Right now, I am doing a mental walkthrough of my old school. Multiple floors. Even a trip down that back stairwell that goes to the old coal shed. Fascinating, but I am not falling asleep. Perhaps if I was telling someone else about my wandering, they’d fall asleep. Is that contagious, like yawning?
I try to be diligent. Reference wall covers, and door knobs. Which way does the door swing. I can’t actually check on those things, because they renovated the building decades ago. I would not get lost, but I won’t be going back, either.
Ran out of schools. On to homes I used to live in. Similar techniques. And I am still not asleep. How about some “directed review”. Verb tenses, in other languages. If it was boring during class, it should work now. I mean, Latin and French are classical ways to put students to sleep. Maybe I haven’t lost my touch.
How many hours until dawn? Does it matter? I’ll probably fall asleep waiting for the sun to come over the treetops. Which direction, again? Getting my senior status isn’t what I expected.
