Rocka Bye Baby…

I can’t be sure why some nights I cannot get to sleep. Tonight, as you have probably already noticed from the time of this posting, is one of those nights. I know that in scripture there are a variety of things said about sleep. Ecclesiastes 5:12 reads like this; “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” So, could it be that my problem is my richness? Especially when you consider that the wealth referred to here is coupled with a full stomach. Now we all know that I have a full stomach. According to the writer of this great book of the Bible I must not be laboring enough. After all if I was labouring properly, it would not matter how much I eat and my sleep would be “sweet.” Perhaps it is time for me to consider working more than one day a week. Can it be that if I worked more than just Sunday I would enjoy better rest? I may just give it a try.

There is another consideration. The great English Novelist Charlotte Bronte wrote that “a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow” Now I like this explanation better. Under this scenario it may just be that I do so much that when it comes to the late hours of the day my mind in preoccupied and “ruffled.” According to Dictionary.com ruffled means “to disturb, vex, or irritate.” I like the word vex. On Sunday Night Catherine Marr who was at our book group from Scotland announced that she was “vexed that she would not be here to meet Ed Smith.” I don’t hear that word so much around these parts but it seemed to be a word that I heard with regularity in Newfoundland. In any event, perhaps that’s it. I have a “vexed” mind. Perhaps it is this “irritated” mind that is keeping me awake. But I really don’t feel vexed or irritated or ruffled.  Now I have lots on my mind – but I believe I have allowed there to be a lot on my mind because I am awake. Didn’t someone once say something about a chicken and an egg?

At this point I have to admit that I am drained and I am drooping. The counteractant to this lassitude is clearly sleep and I want to make an another attempt at rest. Dorothy Parker once wrote, “How do people go to sleep?  I’m afraid I’ve lost the knack.  I might try busting myself smartly over the temple with the night-light.  I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damn things.”  Well, I have read the quotes, even wrote a couple of them in this blog – still NO sleep – you’ll have to pardon me – I am headed upstairs to get a strong lamp! Good-nig…….!