I can only imagine what an effort it was to put me down for a nap when I was a child. I remember not wanting to miss anything and always fighting my afternoon nap. This is also what I’ve been told by multiple family members.
I, however, was also easily tricked.
As a very young child my mother quickly learned never to use the words “naptime” or “night-night.” To me they were evil words, like “timeout” and “no.” So mom took to using the term “day-day.” As in, “Sarah, do you want to go ‘day-day?’”
Apparently I fell for it every time.
As I became a bit older I started to better understand the naptime terms. When I woke up my mother would ask to look at my face because she always said she could tell if I had slept by looking at my eyes. I imagine I would look groggy with creases all over my face, but I didn’t quite understand that back then – I just thought this superhuman ability came with the eyes in the back of her head.
One sunny afternoon I thought I would outsmart her. I went into my room for a nap, climbed in between my Strawberry Shortcake sheets and settled in. I smiled as I thought of my plan – I would fool her into thinking I had napped by keeping my eyes closed for an extended period of time. A while later I came out of my room and she looked at me, “Well, it looks like you had a good nap.”
Oh my goodness – it worked. I almost felt guilty…almost.
This victory was short-lived as I realized I had been in my room for two hours. There was no way I laid there with my eyes closed for two hours and didn’t sleep. I just didn’t have that kind of patience. I must have tricked myself into taking a nap.
Fail.
I often think of those struggles when I look at the clock during a long workday and know it would really be a perfect time for a nap. That’s the difference between child-Sarah and adult-Sarah. Now I accept and even crave naptime. I wish I could go back and tell that silly girl to soak up all the sleep that she could.
Last Sunday I watched the clock tick to 1:30 in the afternoon as I struggled to keep my eyes open. The idea of a nap sounded wonderful and even though there was plenty of housework to be done, the words “day of rest” echoed in my head. I trudged up the stairs, eyes half open, and fell into bed. I felt such comfort as my head hit the pillow and just as I was about to drift off to dreamland I felt our dog Maple cuddle up next to me.
Some people don’t nap, some people love naps. I read some family history about how my great-great grandmother Jane Brown woke up early and worked, but her granddaughters swear she found time for an afternoon nap every day of her life
Sounds like a great philosophy to me.