The middle of the night........

What exactly is the MIDDLE of the night? I guess it depends on what time you go to bed. I fell asleep sometime around 11 p.m. last night and woke up at 2:45 a.m. I guess that counts as the "middle". So, I'm up in the middle of the night and I can't sleep. I'm too hot. Or I'm too cold. Or something. Not even sure what woke me in the first place. The only reason I'm even on my computer is because I left it downstairs, so I won't disturb anyone with my clickety-clack typing.

Here's how it goes: I wake up and toss and turn for a half hour. Or an hour. Or longer before I finally decide to just get up. But herein lies the dilemma. Where do I go? Downstairs is the logical choice, since the family is sleeping upstairs. It would make sense to take up residence on the couch, but then I'd be cold and need a snuggly blanket and I didn't think to bring one down with me. Then, comes the "do I turn on the lights?" dilemma.  Some studies say that once light hits your retina, your body thinks it's morning and you will have a much harder time falling back to sleep. And when one wakes in the middle of the night, that is the goal - to go back to sleep already!

So, no lights. But then.....in the dark, there might be a spider. I mean, that's logical, right? The very room I'm sitting in once housed a giant spider so who knows if there's another one? Spiders like to lurk in the dark. There's no way in hell I'm sitting on the black leather couch. Spider camoflauge. Because it would only take one time having a giant spider crawl on me in the dark to keep me from ever leaving my bed in the middle of the night. But there's nothing worse than trying to be quiet in my bed so I don't wake my husband while tossing and turning. So, I left.

I chose a relatively safe chair where my computer happened to be residing. And I checked my email. Mostly junk. And I checked my Facebook. Mostly boring. And now I'm hungry because my body thinks it's morning and breakfast time. My faithful companion, Georgette the black lab, has accompanied me downstairs and I can even hear HER stomach growling. So, it's not just humans.

I always wonder why I woke in the first place. I swear earlier in the night I was poked hard in the arm, right in  the spot where I just got a flu shot, by my husband, likely because I was snoring. I just remember waking abruptly to shooting pain from a shove to the arm. Rude. I can't help it if I snore. I'm sleeping, for cryin' out loud! I can't be responsible for my actions when I'm in deep slumber.

Whatever the reason, I'm up. Normally I'd enjoy the extra time to get something done. But what can one do at 4 a.m. without disturbing the household? It's not like I can turn on the vacuum or run a load of laundry. I really just want to be in bed. But I want to be sleeping there, not tossing and turning and thinking about how tired I'm going to be in the morning.

Blarg. Insomnia sucks.