I Believe in Naps

            “Wake me up when the light turns green,” my mom would say as she cruised to a stop at the red light and promptly shifted the car into park. This was my normal. I have a dedicated, loving mother who unfortunately fell asleep everywhere. During my piano lessons her head would fall back gently on the couch, smooshing up her blonde hair like a peacock, as she slumbered. Her red pen would then slip from her over worked fingers, landing atop the pile of college papers she was grading.

In the evenings, my mother would deliver glorious renditions of character’s voices while reading us bedtime stories. Dutifully, my older sister and I made sure to sit on either side of her, taking turns gently elbowing her awake when she began napping amid sentences.  Her voice pattern went something like this, “Mary had a little (voice would slur) lammmmbbbbb…,” head would bob down and then lights out. Being the offspring of this glorious woman, and having a pre-genetic disposition to be borderline narcoleptic, I believe in naps.

            Nap-less Cammy, mixed with visiting teaching, equals the “you’re-bound-to-fall-asleep” danger zone for me. When I find myself lounging comfortably on their soft couches, I instantly begin to feel the onslaught of my eyelids begging to close. Oh, and it aches something fierce. It’s one of those, “it’s not you, it’s me” scenarios, where I’m apologizing to these sweet women, trying to convince them they really are interesting, intriguing Daughters of God! I’m the one at fault for not being remarkable at the moment; AKA: super boring, but mostly sleepy.

            I’m what the National Sleep Foundation refers to as a, “planned” napper. They define this as, “… taking a nap before you actually get sleepy. You may use this technique when you know that you will be up later than your normal bed time or as a mechanism to ward off getting tired earlier.” I pencil in a time to snooze every day.  All this requires is a 20-30 minute catnap and the rewards are significant.

            Naps enable me to be recognized as the “nice mom” by my children, and not the “crazy, you –freak- me -out, sleep deprived mom”.  The National Sleep Foundation says napping improves, “mood, alertness, and performance.”  Resting allows me to be brilliantly awake during red lights, saves me from awkwardly getting lost in dreamland on the plush recliners of those I visit teach, and assists in my mostly conscious state while reading bedtime stories. I believe in naps.