The View from Here

Leonardo Da Vinci…

Two nights ago my eyes popped wide open well before 2am and stayed open. And stayed. And stayed. I took a melatonin…nothing. Since I have taken on my new detail-filled role at work, more and more I am waking up in the middle of the night with my brain spinning, going over all of the things I need to do and to learn to do. I couldn’t help but to smile wryly and think of Kramer from the Seinfeld episode when he decided to follow Leonardo Da Vinci’s sleep cycle:

“Leonardo da Vinci’s sleep schedule included 20-minute naps every four hours. Da Vinci followed an extreme form of a polyphasic sleep schedule called the Uberman sleep cycle, which consists of 20-minute naps every four hours”

It didn’t go so well for goofy Kramer; he began falling asleep standing after a few days of the insanity. Not really the way I want to live.

Nighttime Buddha…

I finally gave up and started writing a blog post, as sometimes writing helps to calm my busy-bee mind. I finished the post…still wide awake. I was afraid my restlessness would wake Dan, so I quietly got up, gathered my things, and headed downstairs, deciding to use my time wisely if I couldn’t sleep. It was actually a very productive time; I colored and highlighted my hair, trimmed my nails, baked a banana bread for the UPS man, folded laundry, did some work emails, and did yoga…and it was only 6:30am by the time I finished all of that. Hey- maybe I should not sleep more often!

The problem with all that was that was that I had a full day of work ahead of me, and I typically find that my brain doesn’t function too well in zombie mode, especially the older I get. True enough, I sat in front of my computer at work feeling dizzy and making stupid mistakes as I worked through the morning. It was laughable- and I looked like’d been chewed up and spit out, or as Mom would have quoted my great uncle Bob, “Your eyes look like two burnt holes in a tar bucket.”

Shiva had some funky eyes going last night, too…

Don’t get me wrong- I am feeling energized and excited about this new beginning in my thirty-year career. The first day of classes is Monday, and I feel almost like I did the first day of my teaching career all those years ago. Even though it is overwhelming to learn so many new things at once (and to feel like I don’t remember much of what I’ve been taught), I love the idea of this new challenge. I just need to learn to find balance…a recurring theme in my life. I’m turning fifty-five tomorrow…still not too late! I am nothing if not a work in progress, and will be until my last breath.

Ready for my birthday bash!

As my birthday falls on a Sunday, we decided to celebrate this evening instead, especially with classes starting on Monday. Dan is going to make an Italian feast from scratch- I am one lucky woman. I am also glad to be alive; when I walked into my garage yesterday evening, slammed the door shut (it’s tricky sometimes) and heard a rumbly voice in the dark intoning, “The end is near….the end is near…prepare to die,” I about jumped out of my skin. Thankfully, it seems Mr. MacKenzie accidentally forgot to remove the batteries from our sound-activated Halloween gargoyle that is stored in my garage. Once my heart started again, I burst into laughter. I am really excited about the new semester and life in general, and sure would have hated to miss it all.

And so, here’s to new beginnings, to stretching and growing, to working on becoming a better version of myself with each passing year- and to accepting that I’m human and will still make mistakes. Lots of them. Hopefully I’ll keep growing through it all- Life is so very good.

Cheers!

P.S…I slept in this morning! 🙂