Cocoon mode* - day 17: As seen through a cup of coffee, groggily; Kalib and Marty in the window

I wanted to sleep in late today - maybe until ten, 11 perhaps, noon. One o'clock in the afternoon would have been okay, two, three, four... all day, through tomorrow, maybe next week.

But I couldn't. Even though I did not fall sleep until after 3:00 AM, I was wide awake by a few minutes after 6:00. I tried valiantly to return to sleep, but failed.

I could hear Margie breathing from the single bed at the foot of our bed where she sleeps until she is healed.

Such a drag, her in that bed, me in the big one - 15 months now, since I fell and hurt myself. Then when I got well enough, she fell. Then finally, one night together, July 25 and then on July 26, she fell again. And now she has had a tooth pulled on top of that and still can't eat solid food.

There was a cat on the bed with me - Jim, the black one. My good buddy. Such a buddy. No dog could be his equal. Pistol-Yero is usually there, too, but he wasn't this morning. Sometimes, he just cannot muster up the courage to walk past Muzzy, who sleeps at our doorway, and into our room.

Jimmy positioned himself atop my side and he felt warm and cozy.

Sometimes, Jimmy puts me back to sleep in this way. But not this morning.

I tried and tried to sleep, but I could not.

About 7:15, I heard the sound of Margie's crutches clacking across the floor, first into the bathroom and then out the bedroom door and down the hallway.

Still I fought for sleep, because I needed it.

But it did not come.

Finally, I got up. I did not want to cook oatmeal. I did not want to eat cold cereal. I did not want to cook eggs or bacon.

So I headed to Family Restaurant, by myself, because Margie was not up to it and the rest were still dozey.

So here I am, in Family Restaurant, enjoying the company of anonymous strangers.

The waitress, who simply adored Kalib when he was a baby, saw that my cup was emptying, so she filled it, until it runneth over.

"My cup runneth over," I commented.

"Blessed be you," she answered.

Actually, I made that up. I am prone to do such things, when the truth does not satisfy me - a common trait among us famous Wasillans.

The cup did not run over. The waitress was good and knew when to stop pouring.

Then someone else was sitting at the table across from me - a man and a woman, neither of whom had any idea that their quiet moment at breakfast had been documented for presentation to the entire world. I'm pretty certain that 15 minutes after I post this image, it will be the subject of debate between Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama, Glenn Beck (who will be moved to tears), Keith Olberman and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who will be so inspired by the image and the discussion that it is about to provoke that he will compose a Violin Concerto and call it, "Family Restaurant Concerto for Violin, # 329."

And then a lady walked by the window, on her way in to Family Restaurant, to order her own coffee and who knows what else.

When I returned home and pulled into the driveway, I saw Kalib and Marty in the window, studying the world. These two are really getting educated.

I would like to go back to bed, now, but I guess I won't.

It wouldn't do me any good. I would just lie there, awake.

What's the point?

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

Comments

[ruth z deming]

ah, so your cocoon mode stems from working on a magazine article. cool! love your love affair with coffee. great shots of all the mugs, some dripping with coffee spots. when i was in my early 20s i lived in san fran & flew to alaska to see the sights. the lady cab driver in sitka had a steaming hot cup of coffee that steamed up the window. it was august. coffee features in so many great adventures.

good luck falling asleep! huge pain in the neck for many people over 50 including grandmotherly types, thank you, like myself. am reading the autobiog of actress claire bloom where she discusses her former marriage to philip roth. he took sleeping pills - one pill in particular - which launched a nervous breakdown in the poor guy.

can you exercise during the day to make yourself exhausted at nite? you do ride your bike a lot and of course your fingers are always going!

[Sunhusky]

I've been reading your blog for some time but this is the first time I know some of the anonymous characters who appear. The man behind the coffee mug is Tony Waffen, plus his wife Dolores. I'll send them your link!

June, aka Sunhusky

[debby]

The one thing that I've discovered about sleep is, eventually, you'll sleep. If I'm awake and can't sleep, I figure there's something I'm meant to be thinking or doing or reading. So I get up. Usually that night, I sleep a whole lot better for it. Of course, I have to say, I'd sleep a whole lot less soundly if the one who sleeps on the other side of my bed was sleeping in a single bed at the foot of the bed. There is a familiar comfort in waking up, turning to my warm, snoring lump and falling instantly back to sleep. Poor Margie! Poor you!

[Wasilla, Alaska, by 300]

ruth - Actually, a magazine, not just an article, a solo project.

June - thanks! One of these days I am going to make cards and then I can just give them to people,

Debby, sleep does come, just not for long enough. Oh, yes, I do want to hold that woman in my arms and have her fall asleep on my shoulder the way she used to.

I think that would help me sleep a bit better, too.

It will happen again, but not soon enough.