I couldn’t sleep last night.  It was one of those nights when I made sure that all the LED characters on my clock worked.  12:14, 1:39, 2:25, 3:10.  Finally, at 4:45, I gave up and headed for the shower.  If I wasn’t going to sleep, I might as well do something productive.  Have you ever really tried — hard — to sleep?  As I dutifully checked my clock every hour or so last night, all I could think of was how much I would regret not sleeping by tomorrow afternoon.  Sometimes life just keeps us awake, even in the middle of the night.

What are the things that cause you to lie awake long after you go to bed?  During stressful portions of my own life, I learned that it was important to will myself to sleep if I wanted to have the focus and mental sharpness to attend to my problems the next day.  I learned to turn off my worrying mind and allow myself to rest and rejuvenate.  There are many reasons for insomnia.  I remember when my children were young, and we would tuck them into bed on Christmas Eve.  ”Sleep fast!” I would tell my sweetheart, “You know the night will be a short one.”  We would hear one child or another moving around in the middle of the night, checking his clock to see whether morning was close enough to risk waking us.  There was one particularly memorable year when we heard two of the kids jumping and dancing and playing long past 3:ooAM.  I am sure that night seemed just as long to them as last night seemed to me.

Before you console me about my sleepless night, I will tell you that it closely resembled that Christmas Eve so many years ago.  In only a few hours, we will drive to the airport to meet our oldest son and his family.  Four of our favorite people in the world will be coming to spend the next ten days with us; and I guess last night just felt like Christmas Eve.  There can be many things that rob us of sleep, but I highly recommend insomnia due to excitement and expectation of a reunion with people you love.  When we see them come down the escalator to the baggage claim, I just know I will turn to my sweetie and say, “Look!  Santa came!”