Living the soothing life of a snoozer

  • Kristi O’Harran / Herald Columnist
  • Monday, March 11, 2002 9:00pm
  • Local News

Remember one of the worst things about kindergarten, taking a nap? We all loved snack time, and recess, and painting on the big easels, but crumb, we didn’t want to slow down and go to sleep.

Oh how my priorities have changed. The best part of a gloomy, rainy weekend is taking a leisurely nap in the afternoon.

I’m in good company. President Bush recently told reporters he was going to head home and take a nap after he answered their questions. According to the National Sleep Foundation, a group sponsoring National Sleep Awareness Week starting April 1, when we turn clocks ahead April 7, Americans risk losing an hour of sleep.

The foundation says we can’t afford to lose that hour when Daylight Savings Time starts.

But I’ll make it up. From a kid who despised naps, to evolve into the world’s most obsessive napper, I sure changed gears. It isn’t a super Saturday or Sunday unless I get my snooze. My non-napping friends get annoyed about my pursuit of midday sleeping. When they call, if I answer the phone, they say, "Were you sleeping?"

I usually was, but that is none of their business. If a birthday party is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on a Sunday, my friends will say, "Sorry you’ll miss your nap."

What they don’t know is that I will probably snooze for an hour before the party. Or I will leave at 3:30 p.m. to get in an hour’s siesta before dinner. I’ve been known to take a 20-minute nap in my car at lunchtime at work.

If only I lived in Mexico.

A wonderful part of my life is being married to a napper. Chuck actually taught me the fine points of daylight dozing. I’m not as bad as him, sleeping in movie theaters or at banquets, but we are syncopated on the weekends. On a typical Saturday morning, we like to go grocery shopping about 7 a.m. We get the food put away, have breakfast, do the dishes, wash a load of laundry and head back to bed about 10 a.m.

After a couple of hours, we get up, mow the lawn, wash cars and vacuum. By 3 p.m., it’s back to bed before an evening out playing darts. We enjoy our second honeymoon. There aren’t children underfoot who need to be taken roller skating. There are no grandchildren to color with. If the housework doesn’t get done, Chuck and I are equally to blame.

Most weekends, we love visits from our kids. Sometimes we don’t get around to playing pinochle because everyone falls asleep. My youngest, Kati, curls in our recliner. She is so petite, you can’t see her under the rumpled blanket. We ignore her while she dozes. She could sleep through a hurricane.

Brody will come over for a sports Sunday on TV and drop off asleep in the third quarter or sixth inning. Last summer, camping near Anacortes, our group did some fishing, crabbing, walking and plenty of snacking. Both days, at precisely 2 p.m., I headed to my sleeping bag to catch a few Zs. I was made fun of to no end, but guess who was the perky person around the evening campfire?

Look no further. Party girl was in rare form. As they drifted off to their beds at 10 p.m., I was still up for another game of group Scattergories. And who was up bright and early mixing the pancake batter, hmmm?

I rest my case.

On work days, Chuck often starts at 6 a.m. When he gets home in the afternoon, he likes nothing better than taking a nap before I get home. If we are going out that evening, I might grab an hour’s snooze before we leave the house. When he has worked graveyard, that shift suited him just fine. He could get home from work at 8 a.m. and sleep straight through to dinner.

Maybe you think we are sleeping our lives away. Why don’t you look at it this way: We aren’t out committing crimes, spending hard-earned money on something frivolous at the mall, clogging the streets with our cars or walking a dog on your property.

We’re just happy sleepers. We’ll even be perky when we spring ahead.

Kristi O’Harran’s column appears Tuesdays and Fridays. If you have an idea for her, call 425-339-3451 or send information to o’harran@heraldnet.com.

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