10/13/2018
When I went to bed last night (after a nearly 3 hour nap on the couch), I wondered if there had ever been a study about the habit of turning toward the middle of the bed to sleep on one’s side. So, after not falling asleep in 20 minutes, I got up and googled it. Sleep studies are done for every conceivable “turn” in the night except that one. Well, I could have read 65,474 more studies so I could be wrong, I suppose.
I did discover the best side to turn to is the right side of one’s body. Turning to the left puts an unnatural pressure on the liver, stomach, intestinal track, etc. Hmm. Who knew?
Some blogs back, I wrote about “middle night” or “first sleep, second sleep” which was a common occurrence a few hundred years back. I like that idea. Oh, I’m sure uninterrupted sleep is reported to be the best, but it doesn’t seem that one specific mode is best for everyone. My middle night doesn’t need to include anyone else, nor any noisy thing like TV or music. But if those things occur, I’m not unnerved by them. There have been a few times when Barb has been awake and we have had good conversations. It isn’t a good time to be disagreeable or plan a redecorating scheme: things like that will prevent a good second sleep.
I’ve also had middles which brought a re-study of a certain sermon, one of my own or some other preacher. That’s been enjoyable for me at times, but not often. Most often what brings on a middle is a thing unsettled, or a forgotten email to answer or a research note I’ll need early the next morning. (A Ben Franklin habit—get up, write it down, lie back down.) All in all I’d say these times are helpful. And my sleep-study study can disagree all it wants to, my mind is made up.
The Addams Family, I never watched that show but once. But, my granddaughter was a part of the theater play “The Addams Family” last Spring. The theme song is what the SIMH was this morning. Ain’t the mind somethin’!
I was relieved to get through the lawn mowing yesterday, Barb did more than half and I finished it when I got home. We sat and talked awhile on a cool day in our lawn-deck swing and I remarked that we probably won’t have to mow again. She said next week will be warmer with rain so we probably will have to mow again—ruined my mood! I love a new mown lawn, love all the work she has put into this one, but I’m tired of mowing for the year! Maybe we can just let it be long for the winter…no, that’ll never fly.
I’m sure we all have friends who have gone on before us who were remarkable characters in our “world stage play” and we’ll never forget them. I’ve had many and the older I get, and as friends die off, the “cast of unforgettables” grows and grows. One of the headliners for me is Mo Rector. Some of you reading this will remember Mo. What a unique person Mo was! His life provides more stories than I can get told.
In fact, Mo has been on my mind since I started writing this blog because he would have loved this medium! Not to write, but to read! He was a musician extraordinaire! And he would have written song after song from my short stories! But, I can’t start a “Mo” story—they would all take too long. Maybe I’ll do a “to be continued” MO section. What an idea! (he Told me once he had a “million dollar idea every day!” I believe he did.) More Mo to come. I’ve whetted your appetite.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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