This week’s writing prompt was, “Tell us what you feel like just before you fall asleep and then right after you wake up.”
The Night is Upon Us
It’s time for bed. Time for my nightly ritual. The first step is to take out my “Last Thoughts” notebook and write about what I’m thinking. It might be an event that happened today, or what Christina and I did, a class or workshop I had or have to prepare for tomorrow, some interesting quote I heard that I need to write down, a conversation with David or a neighbor, or just pondering about things going on in the world. I keep it short, no more than 2 or 3 sentences. Some weeks I choose to make each entry for that week only a 6-word sentence. I love a challenge.
Once written, I get ready—teeth brushed, meds taken, PJs on, dealing with whatever I need to set up electronically, like a wake-up alarm or batteries to charge, and then it’s into bed.
What will I read tonight? The book that I’ve been trying to finish? The 76 e-mails I haven’t gotten to yet? The comics that I subscribe to that I didn’t get to? Oh, that’s right. First, I must set my iPad to reduce white point, so it dims my screen and doesn’t interfere with Christina, who might be trying to sleep.
Before I shut down, I set my pillow speaker, connected to my iPad, so I can listen to music (again without bothering Christina). The music helps me unfocus. No incessant thoughts rambling through my brain, and even though the tinnitus hiss is ever present, I focus on the music so I can sleep. I set the timer so the music turns off after an hour and a half. Well before that time is up, I’m be asleep.
Of course, that’s when the adventures begin. It’s off to dreamland. In the past few nights, I’ve created a folktale and a mystery. If I were by myself, as soon as I realized I was dreaming, I would get up and write these thoughts down in my writer’s notebook. However, I don’t want to wake Christina, so I continue to follow the paths of dreams in bed to their inevitable non-conclusion.
When I wake up, I feel refreshed, and on occasion, I remember some of my more vivid dreams. I share some of the sketchy details with Christina. The response usually goes, “You’re so weird. Nobody dreams like that.”
All it takes is a couple of minutes to get out of bed and make it to the bathroom for me to completely forget whatever it was that I had dreamed. Another tale of wisdom down the toilet, so to speak.
And then I start my day. I do what I do, think what I think, and create whatever needs to be created.
As night returns upon us, it’s “last thoughts” time, and I repeat the process all over again.
