"Sleep before Midnight" Episode Nine

Welcome to Honor Your Truth

The “Is It True?” Series Episode Nine

“The only sleep that really matters is the sleep you get before midnight”

If this is really true then I can get back in bed right now. I have a lot of catching up to do. I can get back into bed and I should sleep all day. I have earned plenty of naps. Naps are my favorite. If I understand correctly, since it is sleep before 12, it all counts towards my beauty sleep. When I wake up, I can have a cup of coffee. I can have that first cup of coffee, twice a day. Some days, I just want a do-over. Now having remembered this advice, there is a way to justify any sleep with the parental A-OK. I still want them to think I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, whatever that is. I am kind of kidding, kinda serious, as usual.

I used to sleep walk. I would freak out my sisters. They would wake up with me in their face, screaming something like “give me the ball back, just give me the ball” This really happened. I woke my sister up yelling, “give me the ball”. She didn’t know quite what to do seeing as she had no ball at the time. She told me that I calmly went and sat down on the end of her bed. Having no experience with sleepwalking at all, this must have been quite disturbing.

One time my Dad came downstairs for some reason only to find me sitting in the living room chair in the dark. He said, “What are you doing, it’s 3 am?” I told him, “I’m just thinking”. He said I could think in bed. However by then it was pretty clear that I was “different” so he probably shrugged his shoulders and went off to bed. Many years prior to that I woke up in basement somewhere in the middle of Act 2 of “The Sound of Music” I was playing Gretl, the youngest of the Von Trapp family. I was in first grade and this was a high school play with the big kids. We often rehearsed way past my bedtime and I was “burning the candle at both ends” as my mom would put it. I was tired. Mr. Shomas, the director, had warned my parents about this, but I wanted to do it so badly. I had no idea what plays were so I don’t know why, but I did. I slept walked so much they ended up putting a chair in front of my bedroom door. However, I moved the chair and continued on down to the basement. As soon as I woke up, of course, I was terrified and ran up the stairs. Half asleep, I couldn’t quite operate the door and was on the other side of it in a complete state of panic.

My Dad came to rescue me and I remember him carrying me back to bed. I wished it took longer than it did. He was always working and often out of town. He was a prime example of the quintessential “traveling salesman”. I don’t know if they still have those. He is still one, but I think he is a bit of a dinosaur in the world of business. He still packs up a suitcase and goes out “on a call” I remember one time he brought dolls back for each of us. He laid them at the foot of our bed. They were kind of like Spanish dancers. I think he was in Mexico, but I’m not sure. He was already gone again when we woke up to find them. When he carried me upstairs, it was a safe and comforting feeling. Could it be that I was trying to recreate this experience time and time again? Sleepwalk my way to a normal childhood. I don’t know. It does sound romantic, in a way.

If I am tired, I will sleep. If I am not, I will stay up. This is what I do. I may get on more of a “normal schedule” one day, I may not. For now, it works for me. I Honor My Truth!

Debra Hadraba
Honor Your Truth
Inspiration+Action