LULABY AND GOOD NIGHT

My husband, Warren was convinced that his graduate students were all narcoleptics who could sleep through class with their eyes open. Ironically, “World Sleep Day 2022” is on March 18th which would have been his 88th birthday.

World Sleep Day is an annual event, celebrating sleep, held the Friday before the spring equinox of each year. It is hosted by the World Sleep Society (WSS) a nonprofit based in the United States. The slogan for 2022 is, “Quality Sleep, Sound Mind, Happy World.” The organizers must have been asleep when they came up with that slogan.  I like the “Quality Sleep” part, but when listening to some of our politicians where in the heck did they come up with “Sound Mind?”  And, “Happy World?” That takes a sound mind.

Of course, sleep can be a relaxing activity unless you are like my friend who called to tell me that she had just woken up and is exhausted, because in her dream she was cooking all night.
“I was chopping, grating, slicing and peeling all night, but the worst part is that I had to throw away an egg! I can’t talk anymore I’m going back to bed.”

Some people have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, and others find it difficult to get up early in the morning. I’m pretty good at the getting up part, but unfortunately I wake up with a new hairstyle every morning. I guess that I toss, turn and stand on my head a lot. Also,  my requirement is  that I sleep in a pitch black room. Other people like ankle lights that lead them to the bathroom. The only time I have trouble falling asleep is when I suffer from magnified thoughts such as, “What are the names of all of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence?”

 Sleep uninterrupted can be a rare thing. As Anthony Burgess said, “Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone.”  I have often thought that the FBI could get a criminal to talk by putting an adorable, tiny baby with big lungs next to his cell at 2 a.m. That kid could really play the sleep deprivation game. “I’ll talk.  I’ll talk.” Just make him stop!”

In case you really want to know, “World Sleep Day” is copyrighted with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (serial number 85274932). Maybe you could use those numbers instead of counting sheep.

When I told a friend “I sleep really well. ”He said, “That’s because you don’t have a guilty conscience.”  I replied, “Or, perhaps it’s because I have no conscience at all.”

Sleep on it!

Esther Blumenfeld