There's A Nap For That!

Why did I fight naps so much as a kid? That seems so short-sighted now. I would beg and plead with my parents not to make me lay down on Sunday afternoon. And they'd make me do it anyway. Then I'd lay there and try as hard as I could to stay awake just to prove I wasn't tired.

It's only in recent years that I've learned how foolish I was. Someone was letting me sleep in the middle of the day. And I couldn’t have been called lazy for doing it. But now, if I close my eyes for a few minutes before 10:00pm, I feel like I've done something wrong. And I've paid dearly for it recently. Because my son likes to run full speed into my "lap" when I'm leaning back in my chair.

And in college I took naps when I didn't need them. If I was bored and didn't feel like watching TV, I would just lay down for an hour or five. I remember one night I was bored and waiting for my friends to get off work, so I took a nap from 7:00 to 10:00pm. And I wasn't even tired!

Now I take naps without even meaning to. And that's is irresponsible when I'm at my desk and terrifying when I'm behind the wheel. It's like I went from unwanted naps to unneeded naps to unintentional naps. And from what I've seen from my parents and grandparents, the rest of my naps from this point on will not be planned. In fact, now that I think about it, I can't remember one nap in my life that was necessary, desired, and completely on purpose. That seems a little unfair.