I remember napping away my childhood. And I don’t mean a light 30 minute siesta to revitalize you and give you a little more energy to make it until the end of the day. I honestly can never use the word nap. I completely go to sleep. LOL. If I ever say I’m going to lay down for a little bit. Just say Goodnight.
I slept so much to avoid life. My world since I can remember has been pretty chaotic. The only way I was ever able to escape it was by writing, reading orrrrrrrrr sleeping. You guessed it!
Here was the typical day of my 9-10 year old self:
Around 5am, my Mom would wake me so that I could get up and get ready for school. She had to go to work and she didn’t drive. So she rode with my Grandmother and some other ladies who were fortunate enough to be able to carpool to work about 40 minutes away from where we lived. Since both my Mom and Grandmother were working I had to spend the hours before school with my Great Grandparents.
Back then your Great Grandparents house was not where you wanted to be, lol. They were truly old. Like in their 70s, 80s. They were very religious and somewhat strict. Luckily my Great Grandmother was almost blind and my Great Grandfather had narcolespsy. (Well I diagnosed him because he’d fall asleep anywhere in any condition or stature). I loved them both dearly even though my Great Grandfather could be mean as fire.
Anyways, I’d spend about 2 hours with them and either I’d walk to school with my cousins or my Great Grandfather would drive us all in his Pontiac. (One can only imagine how long that took…) I’d go to school for what felt like forever. Being bullied, getting picked on just to get on the bus with the same kids and they’d act like we were the best of friends. In hindsight 20/20, I began to dislike people at quite a young age smh.
Once the bell rang at the end of the day, I’d either wait for my cousins and walk home, or my Great Grandfather would be waiting near the Gator on the side of the street to pick us up in…you guessed it…his Pontiac lol. My Mom and Grandmother were still at work, my closest Aunt would still be at work as well so it was back to ranch with the Great Grandparents. We always had a snack after school or my Great Grandmother would be getting things together to start dinner for the evening. My Grandfather was a longstanding community entreprenuer so he was usually found sleeping in his barber chair that was located in his little barbershop right outside the house in the yard. (At this point, I’m going to say I got my sleeping from my Great Grandfather!) Sometimes we’d help. Most times we could be found in the den watching the afterschool specials. I’m not going to tell my age by letting you know what I watched LOL.
Sometimes I would make it through the after school specials before falling alseep. Other times, I’d fall asleep after the intro of the first show. Guess it depended upon if I had PE that day, I don’t know. I was not a big child. I was actually the opposite. Real thin, picky eater but always hungry, didn’t/couldn’t gain weight. Just terrible, skin and bones. I’d wake up to either the news or Ricky Lake…smh. Sometimes even later, like the news would come on and I’d be awaken by my Mother either yelling at me to get up, or she’d come in the house singing, beat knocking on the door or she’d just come in and push me to wake me up. She never waited for a ride home. We always walked unless it was raining.
That after school “nap” got worse the older I got. So bad that in high school, my Mom brought me a pregnancy test. Oh my goodness Mother. I was not sexually active yet, let alone pregnant. I was tired of life already! And I was only about 15 or 16. I remember it like it was yesterday. By this time, I was living with my Grandparents because I wanted to play sports and be active as a teenager and my Grandparents were a tad bit more lenient than my Mom. Plus they had cars. Nothing against my Mom, she was great but I wanted a social life. She didn’t want me to have one. (And now I know why lol)That was best friend. She wanted me all to herself. I understand now that I have children of my own.
I never got up early on Saturday mornings, unless I had to function as the Secretary for the Women’s Auxillary at church. This was one caveat to living with my Grandparents. I had to go to church as if my life depended on it. Ugh. Sacraficial lamb I was…my cousins didn’t have to endure such craziness. (Looking back now, I’m happy I experienced it all) I always smelled my Grandmother cooking breakfast, however it did not entice me to get the fawk up in anyway. I’d be hungry but I wanted to sleep as much of the day away as possible. I smell bacon and my Mom bursts in my bedroom and sits on the platform where I laid sometimes to read, just listen to the rain or pretend I was a dancer. (Do not judge me and no I still cannot dance lol) She yells my name. I already know she’s in the room, hence her bursting through the door. She was always so silly. I answer her. She asks me why am I sleep. Really Mom? I tell her because it’s morning lol. She hated when I got smart with her, but she would get smart with me all the time. Now wasn’t the time to play with her though. I couldn’t move fast enough to get away from her. She pulls a pregnancy test out of her pocket and throws it on the bed. She tells me i’m going to take it. I am so confused. Why is this happening? She said all you do is sleep. You have to be pregnant. So here’s a fun fact, I babysat my younger brother ALL THE TIME! Took him to school, picked him up, etc. I honestly did not want anyone’s kid lol.
To appease her I get up to go downstairs to take this God awful test. She tells me “Hell No!”. What now!!!??? She proceeds to tell me that I’m going to take the test in front of her…uh oh ok. But I still need to go to the bathroom. Nope she doesn’t want me to leave my bedroom. What in the hell Mother? How??? She leave out and comes back with a paint bucket from my Grandfather’s workshed outside. I look up to the ceiling and silently say Lord this lady is being crazy again, come help me. That was my routine silent prayer whenever my Mom did something out of left field or something that just made no sense. Looking at the bucket, I have to send up one more prayer, Lord please don’t let me have to need a shot of some sort after this. This bucket has cement on the sides and everything else. Hell My Grandfather probably peed in this bucket. I really peed in a bucket while she instructed me on how to take this damn pregnancy test. (That goes down as the first pregnancy test I ever took. And I took it with my Mom. WOW!) Smh.
That killed my nap vibe until I graduated from High School. When I joined the Army and was living on my own, I welcomed it back until I had children. And guess what. No one thought I was pregnant LOL.
Happy Nap Day
I shared that wonderful story in appreciation of Nap Day, which is TODAY!!! For some people, naps are as restorative as a whole night of sleep. Unfortunately for me it is a whole night or day of sleep. A healthy adult doesn’t need to nap, but can benefit from a nap of 10-20 minutes. There is some evidence that older adults may benefit from napping for an hour in the afternoon. Now let me say that I am not a medical profession. I practice Google Medicine sometimes but that’s about it.
So I hope you were able to celebrate the day by taking a nap! In order to reap its benefits make sure you have a good sleep environment with good room temperature (a fan), and limited light and noise. Also, make sure that you aren’t taking a nap too close to the morning or evening. This could cause you to wake up and think you missed work which will lead to running around the house thinking you’re late lol. Besides napping in your bed, try taking a nap in on a comfy sofa, or in a hammock outside. Even though it may not be the best for light or noise, taking a nap on a towel at the beach is also a calming. Don’t lay there too long…because well…the sun.
If that tickled your fancy, check out some of my latest blog posts…
- Letter to my Mother
- Happy Birthday Best Friend
- Naked Truth
- Tomorrow Isn’t Promised: We Stop For Rainbows
- Doing the best I can with what and who I have in my corner…
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In My Unapologetic Life... 