good night, good morning
Exactly one week ago, I was rolling across Utah on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, having boarded in Denver that morning. That night was the only night on my week-long vacation that I didn’t set my alarm clock before falling asleep. We hadn’t paid for the luxury of a sleeper car, so I reclined my “spacious coach seat” as far as it would go and tried to find the most comfortable sleeping position. There was nothing scheduled for the morning, of course… but not surprisingly, I woke up quite a few times before it was time to eat breakfast. Good night Utah, good morning Nevada.
On Thursday night we decided that we would sleep in a little the next morning. At 7:30, just as I was about to roll out of bed, we heard an explosion. If you’ve ever heard a transformer blow, you know the sound I’m talking about. Lovely. That was the second morning in one week that Rachel didn’t get to take a shower. (Hotel showers seem to be as far away from windows as possible.) Good night plush pillow, good morning greasy hair.
I returned home to Virginia late that night — well, early Saturday morning, really. My flight out of San Francisco was delayed, and I didn’t pull into my driveway until 4:52 local time. I was in bed by 5:07. Adrenaline (not coffee!) had kept me awake on the two-hour drive from the airport, so then it was hard to suddenly fall asleep… especially since the birds were already chirping. I needed to leave for a wedding at 10:00, so I set two alarm clocks just in case. Good night pre-dawn glow, good morning three-and-a-half hours of sleep.
I expected to feel exhausted on Saturday, but I stayed alert and energetic all day. Still, it felt good to climb into bed that night for a full night of rest. When my alarm went off eight hours later, my subconscious was apparently still on vacation. Beeeep! Beeeep! Beeeep! I picked up the alarm clock as if it were my little folding travel alarm clock. It was not. I jerked awake as my lamp crashed onto the hardwood floor, swept off the nightstand by my alarm clock’s cord. Good night white cotton sheets, good morning chaos.
