Judging by the number of times I awoke throughout the dawn today, tossing and turning in a repeatedly failed attempt to subdue the stiffness and penetrating pain of my left (newly installed) knee and lower leg, it is correct to observe that I wasn’t sleeping at all well and that I hadn’t any precise idea of the time of day despite the fragments of daylight bordering the window blinds. I finally convinced myself it was time to withdraw from under the duvet. When I uplifted my sleep mask and positioned my iPhone at arm’s length towards me I saw that it was before nine o’clock. That at least was not a disgraceful start to the day by my latest standards of unemployment. But I wasn’t about to celebrate by perching on my tricycle for a morning purge. In fact further debate about the athletic topic precipitously lapsed when I was commissioned to chauffeur His Lordship to numerous retail venues.
It is no news that I like to drive. Normally it is an unqualified venture. But today there were hidden ingredients at work. What would have been the suddenness of my upcoming afternoon nap was initially disinclined by the privilege I have to sit idly in the car, doing nothing, while the work of grocery shopping and other critical domestic activity transpires unseen about me. No doubt too the looming soporific urgency was pumped by the smoothness of the road and the late summertime beauty of the surrounding farm fields and towering corn stalks. But my waning existence (and admittedly uncommon silence) was no accommodation of anything but drowsiness.
By the time I got us back home and into the garage, I had about had it. I felt exhausted! Indeed so overwhelmed was I by affairs that I proceeded directly to the bedroom. It was the work of a moment to remove my shoes then plop myself onto the bed, head plunged into the exceedingly agreeable down filled pillows recommended years ago by my brother-in-law. And then I was gone!
I awoke two hours later. It was the most flawless sleep I’ve had in memory! And the recomposition was immediate! It is only when one has had a good sleep that its benefits are appreciated. Otherwise there is the tendency to accept that one’s disquietude is just normal and what is to be expected of aging or whatever. Seemingly all this can be cured by a redeeming afternoon nap! Yet another of Nature’s fathomless secrets.
While studying law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia I lunched with the senior partner of a prestigious law firm. Our luncheon was at his private residence. For reasons I cannot now recall there was apparently no rush to get anywhere in a hurry after the luncheon. Notably the senior partner excused himself from table and only reappeared in the drawing room where the others were gathered an hour later. He had retired to his bedroom where every day he takes a nap. Fully clothed, sprawled on his back on top of the bed.