ZONKED

365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 198

Last night you read part two of what I honestly thought was going to be a simple two-parter. But hey, if you thought we were officially done with this saga, you’d be wrong… and honestly, so was I. Haha! Consider this little jobby to be chapter three.

So, after snarfing down last night’s supper, I finished up my blog post thanking God for getting me home in one piece. I did the usual routine: posted it to my website, shared it to Facebook, and then shut the lid to my laptop to chill for the rest of the evening. And right on cue, that's when it hit. The tireds. Heavy.

Within minutes, my eyelids were staying closed for significantly longer stretches than they were open. No matter how hard I fought to stay awake, absolutely nothing was working. I even caught myself snorting once or twice, completely startling myself awake in the process. It’s a bit freaky, I know. You know you are zonked hard when you wake your own self up from a deep sleep with a snoring snort that sounds like a wild animal just snuck up on you.

Well, I couldn’t take it anymore. I quietly got up without saying a word, other than pointing a finger at the mutts and commanding them to stay put (yeah, right, like that ever works). I marched upstairs, brushed my snaggle teeth, and crawled into bed. Two short-lived games on my iPhone later, I flipped the phone into sleep mode, set it on the dresser, and closed off my mind and my peepers for the night.

And BOOM. Just like that, Dr. Benadryl and the sheer lack of sleep from the night before punched my ticket to la-la land. I guess Gus Gus joined me at some point, but I have zero recollection of him crawling up beside me.

What I do vaguely remember was Danielle and Arlo rummaging around later on as they came to bed, and me growling a little bit like a grumpy bear… but after that, it was absolute lights out until 0720. For nearly 11 glorious hours, my body laid completely horizontal on our super comfy bed, only getting up twice to wet the whistle and, well, take care of nature’s call.

ZONKED. The "medical experts" all love to preach about how a good night’s sleep is crucial for optimal health. I’m usually pretty disciplined about getting my 7 ½ hours a night. But last night? Oof. I needed that massive stretch just to catch up—even though those same experts claim there’s no such thing as "catching up" on sleep. They might think they’re smarter than everyone else, but they can go try telling that to my body, which crashed hard and stayed crashed until it finally got its fill.

And you know, I think all of that is in the Good Lord’s hands anyway. God always knows exactly what we need; not just sometimes, but all the time. My body, mind, and yes, even my soul desperately needed that rest, and God—along with my family—gave me the space and time to get exactly what I required. For that, I am tremendously grateful.

Geez, did you ever think I could stretch a post out this long about something as simple as saying, “I’m thankful for a great night’s sleep?” Ha! You know me, I’m a chatty Charlie. I can turn a short story into an epic saga; it’s the Norwegian in me, or maybe just my mother Gloria's influence.

Anyway, that is what I am thankful for tonight: last night’s comatose-like sleep. Drop me a line down in the comments section about a time you were so incredibly exhausted that you slept like a bear in deep hibernation. Added to that, what are you thankful for today?