Sleep
Title
Sleep
Identifier
SLEEP
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"Around 4 am this morning, when I was not asleep and not awake, in what Fran calls a 'fugue state', I had a great idea for a memoir."
Date
2015-02-14
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Text
SLEEP
Around 4 am this morning, when I was not asleep and not awake, in what Fran calls a “fugue state,” I had a great idea for a memoir. I would write about sleep. Now that it is 11 am, and I am wide awake, and I am sitting at my computer, I can’t remember what was so great about the idea. I don’t think that my sleep pattern is much different from anyone else’s. I know that Fran’s certainly is, but my idea was to write about the way I sleep.
I sleep exactly the same way I have been sleeping all my adult life. I get to bed around 11:30 pm and get up after 7 am. Now that I am retired, it is quite a bit after 7 am, and can be as late as 8 or 8:30 am. When I get up, I stretch, I sit up, I stretch some more, I stand up, a bit unsteadily at first, and make my way to the bathroom. But I am describing getting up, and I intended to write about sleeping.
It is past 11:30 pm and I am ready to go to bed. I may have dozed off earlier. I have turned off the TV, or laid aside the book I was reading, and get into bed. I scrunch down, pull the covers up, rearrange the pillow, put out the light, and close my eyes. It feels good, warm, comfortable. I am a side-sleeper and usually start out sleeping on my right side. If I don’t fall asleep right away, I turn over to my left side. And if there is nothing on my mind, I fall asleep fairly quickly. However, for the past several years, I find I have become a light sleeper. Even the slightest noise tends to wake me up.
Dreams, cramps, cold feet, ideas, breakfast, planning the day—appointments, phone calls, emails.
Thinking about family and friends. Things that need to be done.
Getting closer to morning—the fugue state, more ideas, more dreams. The desire to record them. Pen and paper near the bed? It would wake me up.
Check to see if Fran is there. Snuggle.
Around 4 am this morning, when I was not asleep and not awake, in what Fran calls a “fugue state,” I had a great idea for a memoir. I would write about sleep. Now that it is 11 am, and I am wide awake, and I am sitting at my computer, I can’t remember what was so great about the idea. I don’t think that my sleep pattern is much different from anyone else’s. I know that Fran’s certainly is, but my idea was to write about the way I sleep.
I sleep exactly the same way I have been sleeping all my adult life. I get to bed around 11:30 pm and get up after 7 am. Now that I am retired, it is quite a bit after 7 am, and can be as late as 8 or 8:30 am. When I get up, I stretch, I sit up, I stretch some more, I stand up, a bit unsteadily at first, and make my way to the bathroom. But I am describing getting up, and I intended to write about sleeping.
It is past 11:30 pm and I am ready to go to bed. I may have dozed off earlier. I have turned off the TV, or laid aside the book I was reading, and get into bed. I scrunch down, pull the covers up, rearrange the pillow, put out the light, and close my eyes. It feels good, warm, comfortable. I am a side-sleeper and usually start out sleeping on my right side. If I don’t fall asleep right away, I turn over to my left side. And if there is nothing on my mind, I fall asleep fairly quickly. However, for the past several years, I find I have become a light sleeper. Even the slightest noise tends to wake me up.
Dreams, cramps, cold feet, ideas, breakfast, planning the day—appointments, phone calls, emails.
Thinking about family and friends. Things that need to be done.
Getting closer to morning—the fugue state, more ideas, more dreams. The desire to record them. Pen and paper near the bed? It would wake me up.
Check to see if Fran is there. Snuggle.
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Sleep,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed March 15, 2026, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/354.