Monday, July 10, 2017

Sleeping







I have been on vacation for a week now, just at home, with my wife, nothing fancy. And I want to tell you how much, how wildly I have loved sleeping. 

Sleeping is great, the sweet, sprawling, luxurious perfecter of all things. I had a friend and roommate once named Chris who could only sleep four hours a night. He wasn't tired. He had so much time to do so much more than those of us who need eight, or eleven hours a night. He made large, dark, and intricate drawings. And yet I could ever feel his longing. Like those four or five hours of unconsciousness he was missing taunted him, lured him, remained unspeakably delicious and yet outside his reach.

And then there's cats.

I heard this joke recently:

One cat says to another "Sorry if I'm cranky. I only got 18 hours of sleep last night."

This then is just one more reason to treasure any moment with a cat- they have but half a year of wakefulness to give in the whole of their existence. So of course their attention is a treasure. And though they nearly sleep away their whole lives, who in their right mind would fault a cat?

The only real flaw I can find with the sweet sport of sleep is this: By its very nature, asleep and gone to the world, we miss out on it.








6 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm not sure that you miss out on much. More time for the rich depths of the unconscious. Just because you're not "here," because you're sleeping, doesn't mean you are not SOMEwhere.

    As for me, I envy your sleep. I am somewhere between you and Chris, closer to Chris. I'd love to get more sleep.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From here we can only get more Jungian or Theological. I am sensing a Jungian approach from you, and respect it, even agree with it. Nevertheless I would like all the sleep with an acute sense of slow, languorous passing of time as I do so. Not that that's really functionally possible.

      I'm very interested in impossible things.

      Delete
  2. Wait, what about Ms Reese's cat Shadow? You've mentioned Chris' sleep schedule and a general overview of all kitties. Any thoughts for Shadow's sleep habits? I don't recall him sleeping, ever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms Reese? Wait, Shadow is so familiar. Do you mean Ressie Henderson? It's all so murky. I just remember playing superheroes at 2 in the morning and our landlady coming down and saying "What are you boys doing down here?" Is that the sort of thing you're looking for? Or was Shadow from Penngrove? But she was orange.

      This cats sleeping thing has sparked something, but maybe it's more of a blog post, about asleep and awake being switched in cats.

      I can do Oakland reminiscences, Penngrove too, sure...

      Delete
  3. Shadow was the black kitty in Oakland.
    Minnie was the sweet kitten machine in Pengrove. Gawd, why didn't i get her fixed, out of compassion?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Minnie? I remember no such name. I'm pretty sure you called her "Mama Cat". She had babies under my bed. I only know of the one litter though. So "kitten machine" and self recrimination seem strong. But maybe I misremember.

      Delete

If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.

I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!

One last detail: If you are commenting on a post more than two weeks old I have to go in and approve it. It's sort of a spam protection device. Also, rarely, a comment will go to spam on its own. Give either of those a day or two and your comment will show up on the blog.