About Naps

Today we got some much needed rain in Middle Tennessee.  It was a good day to stay inside and get a few chores done.  Laundry and ironing were the big things on my list, as well as baking a few cookies. This afternoon I reorganized a cabinet to make room for all the literature we have collected for our 2009 trip.

With all that activity I ran out of steam about mid-afternoon.  The raindrops on the roof just seemed to be lolling me to sleep.  Webster defines “nap” as a brief, light sleep.  Somehow, that just doesn’t bring with it the true essence of a “nap”.  I asked Peanut if he wanted to take a nap with me.  He seems to be the expert on naps in this household.  He takes 4 a day—2 in the morning, 1 in the early afternoon, and the last between dinner and bedtime.  They are neither brief nor light.  In fact, he sleeps so soundly that if you didn’t see his little tummy rise and fall, you might think he was dead.

My grandfather was another great nap taker.  His favorite napping spot was the sofa.  By the time I was aware of that special piece of furniture it was past its prime.  It was manufactured, I guess, in the decade just before Naugahyde became popular.  It was like a cheap imitation of Naugahyde like Naugahyde was a cheap imitation of leather. Maybe it was just everyday, ordinary vinyl.   The color is a little hard to describe.  Blue was probably the basic color, but there was also a lot of gray and a little green thrown in for good measure.  Maybe it was just faded from the sun or the real color had been worn off with use.  The living room floor wasn’t exactly level so the end of the sofa at the corner of the living room was slightly higher thereby making the sofa a kind of recliner.  My grandfather apparently felt that was its highest and best use and he spent what seemed to me to be most of my childhood in the reclined position on that sofa.

My mother swears she never takes a nap.  She also swears she doesn’t go to bed early.  Well, I guess technically, she doesn’t “go to bed” early.  After partaking of the evening meal and cleaning up the kitchen, she can often be found in her recliner in the den.  You notice because the snoring is so loud.

I don’t take many naps.  Several years ago I’d indulge in a nap on Sunday afternoon.  That was sweet.  Since I have become of “a certain age” I have difficulty sleeping at night.  I try to avoid a nap at all costs, even on those days when I have slept poorly the night before.  But today, I just couldn’t help myself.  I went up to the bedroom, closed the door, kicked off my shoes, and snuggled down under the blanky.  Peanut thought this activity a bit odd and came to check it out, but didn’t stay long.  Ah, pure bliss for a brief few moments.  I’ll be really pissed if I can’t sleep tonight.