THE GAME OF SLEEP

The first few days of school, I'm tired, but not so tired that I can sleep.  I am restless every night -- first unable to fall asleep, then unable to stay asleep.  I know me and Fridays in general: I'm going to be asleep by 9:00 p.m., and I'll sleep great!

Right?

Not so much.  I am a bit wired when I get home.  I've had a strange first week, and a couple of emails and professional conversations have made my teeth rattle, but, all in all, I am really happy to be back in the educational saddle again.  I come home late on Friday, worked up and worked out but, surprisingly, not tired.

I make dinner, watch some truly horrible reality television, dabble on social media, attempt to create a Web-based lesson plan, then figure I should go to bed.  I mean, I might feel a little tired, so it must be 8:30 or so.  I glance at the clock.  10:41. 

Huh.  Still not truly nor wearily tired.  That's weird.

I start playing games online.  I play three games of Yahtzee against the computer, and I win two of them.  Yay, champion!  I play Spades online, too.  I don't really understand the scoring system, but I know the rules, so I play several hands of that.  At first, I am wide awake.  Then, I start to notice that cards are being played, and the other three make-believe players at the make-believe card table are waiting for me to make a move.

Yes!  Finally tired!

I head to bed somewhere around midnight with high hopes for a great night's sleep.  No storms tonight, no rain for the first time in three nights, and it's great sleeping weather (heading into the fifties for temperature).  I fall asleep only to wake up about an hour later.

What the hell.

I am up again about two hours after that and again around 5:30 a.m.  I am starting to think I should get up and get my day going.  I am usually up at 5:00, anyway, during the week.  Just as I embrace that thought, I realize that more than three hours have passed, and it is nearly 9:00.  Honestly -- my best sleep happens when I figure that I don't have another second of shut-eye available.

With any luck, next week's sleeping will be a little more consistent and rhythmic.  After all, it has been weeks since I've been in the groove, and I need to get myself back into the habit of going to bed at a decent hour and actually using sleep to my advantage. 

In the meantime, don't worry if I speak in tongues or look at you with glassy-eyed stupor in broad daylight.  I'm just a teacher suffering from back-to-schoolitis.  It will pass ... by June.