Sleep
Title
Sleep
Identifier
SLEEP
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"Around 4 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
2016-03-03
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Text
SLEEP
Around 4 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 10 am, and I am wide awake, 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 this morning’s 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 11-11:30 pm and get up after 7 am. Now that I am retired, it is quite a bit after 7, 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. The last place before going to bed, and the first place upon arising.
It is between 11 and 11:30 pm and I am ready to go to bed. I may have dozed off earlier. I have turned off the TV. There was a time that I stayed up to 12, to catch Johnny Carson or David Letterman. (Sorry Steven Colbert.) When Jon Stuart came on at 11, that made life easier, and I occasionally went to bed earlier, skipping the other programs. I have recently taken to reading in bed before falling asleep. Someone said there are two things you do in bed, and reading is not one of them. Different strokes for different folks. If I have been reading, I lay aside my book, take off my glasses, and 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 or light tends to wake me up.
Before going to bed, I follow a ritual of undressing, putting on my pajamas, washing, and brushing my teeth. I like my pajamas. I always sleep in pajamas. It seems men today don’t wear pajamas. They wear light, floppy pants and tee shirts. I don’t wear light floppy pants and tee shirts, and I don’t wear bathrobes, even though I have a couple of fine robes hanging in my closet. In the old movies, men wore pajamas and robes, until Clark Gable in “It Happened One Night.” Today’s movies, most men sleep in their underwear. And when I get out of bed, I wear slippers.
In the winter, my feet are cold, really cold. Much colder than the rest of me. I therefore keep my socks on. After a couple hours, when my feet begin to warm up, I take my socks off. It is getting harder to take my socks off these days. I have to bring my feet up and then hook my thumb onto the back of my socks and work them off past the heel and to my toes, and then drop them on the floor. (The socks, not my toes.)
I am not sure when the dreams start, but it seems I am having a lot more dreams than I used to. And they are repetitious. Many of them are about trips. I am on a trip and am either getting lost, or hurrying to catch a train or plane or boat. I am always pleasantly surprised at how easily I get around. No mobility problems. Occasionally, I am with one of my old friends. I do not seem to have the deep sleeps that I used to, I seem to have more dreams, but I don’t remember what they were about. If I don’t like what they are about, I wake myself up, and go back to sleep. Last night I had a dream that I was at home and had just gotten out of bed. I went to the bathroom and there were two young boys in my bathtub. I went to the second bathroom and there were another two young boys in the bathtub. This was strange because my second bathroom does not have a bathtub. Was I in someone else’s home? Dreams, as Freud will tell you, are supposed to be very revealing, but it is a subject for another memoir.
I have a special thing with the digital clock on my night table. Its red numerals fascinate me, especially when it indicates birthdays of people I know: 6:07, 7:27, 10:12, 11:04, 11:06, 12:18, 12:30. When I wake up during the night, I love it when the numbers repeat: 2:22, 3:33, or when they add up: 4:31, or are in sequence: 1:23. Life’s little pleasures. I should note that I never use the alarm. I rely on my internal clock. In my half-sleep, I check my clock to assure myself that I will get up on time. I am afraid that some day I will oversleep.
As I indicated at the start, before awakening, I get a lot of ideas. My body may be asleep, but my mind is wide awake. I think about writing stuff. I think about what I should have for breakfast. I think about the rest of the day: appointments, phone calls I should make, emails I should write, other things I should do. All of them are important. I should write them down. That would mean I should keep pencil and paper on the night table. But the night table already has a light, a phone and a clock. There is no room for pencil and paper. Besides, I would have to turn on the light, which would totally wake me. I assure myself that I will remember everything in the morning. However, this morning, all I remembered is: write a memoir about sleep.
3-3-16
Around 4 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 10 am, and I am wide awake, 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 this morning’s 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 11-11:30 pm and get up after 7 am. Now that I am retired, it is quite a bit after 7, 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. The last place before going to bed, and the first place upon arising.
It is between 11 and 11:30 pm and I am ready to go to bed. I may have dozed off earlier. I have turned off the TV. There was a time that I stayed up to 12, to catch Johnny Carson or David Letterman. (Sorry Steven Colbert.) When Jon Stuart came on at 11, that made life easier, and I occasionally went to bed earlier, skipping the other programs. I have recently taken to reading in bed before falling asleep. Someone said there are two things you do in bed, and reading is not one of them. Different strokes for different folks. If I have been reading, I lay aside my book, take off my glasses, and 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 or light tends to wake me up.
Before going to bed, I follow a ritual of undressing, putting on my pajamas, washing, and brushing my teeth. I like my pajamas. I always sleep in pajamas. It seems men today don’t wear pajamas. They wear light, floppy pants and tee shirts. I don’t wear light floppy pants and tee shirts, and I don’t wear bathrobes, even though I have a couple of fine robes hanging in my closet. In the old movies, men wore pajamas and robes, until Clark Gable in “It Happened One Night.” Today’s movies, most men sleep in their underwear. And when I get out of bed, I wear slippers.
In the winter, my feet are cold, really cold. Much colder than the rest of me. I therefore keep my socks on. After a couple hours, when my feet begin to warm up, I take my socks off. It is getting harder to take my socks off these days. I have to bring my feet up and then hook my thumb onto the back of my socks and work them off past the heel and to my toes, and then drop them on the floor. (The socks, not my toes.)
I am not sure when the dreams start, but it seems I am having a lot more dreams than I used to. And they are repetitious. Many of them are about trips. I am on a trip and am either getting lost, or hurrying to catch a train or plane or boat. I am always pleasantly surprised at how easily I get around. No mobility problems. Occasionally, I am with one of my old friends. I do not seem to have the deep sleeps that I used to, I seem to have more dreams, but I don’t remember what they were about. If I don’t like what they are about, I wake myself up, and go back to sleep. Last night I had a dream that I was at home and had just gotten out of bed. I went to the bathroom and there were two young boys in my bathtub. I went to the second bathroom and there were another two young boys in the bathtub. This was strange because my second bathroom does not have a bathtub. Was I in someone else’s home? Dreams, as Freud will tell you, are supposed to be very revealing, but it is a subject for another memoir.
I have a special thing with the digital clock on my night table. Its red numerals fascinate me, especially when it indicates birthdays of people I know: 6:07, 7:27, 10:12, 11:04, 11:06, 12:18, 12:30. When I wake up during the night, I love it when the numbers repeat: 2:22, 3:33, or when they add up: 4:31, or are in sequence: 1:23. Life’s little pleasures. I should note that I never use the alarm. I rely on my internal clock. In my half-sleep, I check my clock to assure myself that I will get up on time. I am afraid that some day I will oversleep.
As I indicated at the start, before awakening, I get a lot of ideas. My body may be asleep, but my mind is wide awake. I think about writing stuff. I think about what I should have for breakfast. I think about the rest of the day: appointments, phone calls I should make, emails I should write, other things I should do. All of them are important. I should write them down. That would mean I should keep pencil and paper on the night table. But the night table already has a light, a phone and a clock. There is no room for pencil and paper. Besides, I would have to turn on the light, which would totally wake me. I assure myself that I will remember everything in the morning. However, this morning, all I remembered is: write a memoir about sleep.
3-3-16
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Sleep,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed March 22, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/419.