[Dailydrool] Sleep disorders (humans, not dogs)—anecdote

[Val lbrewerzwick]

I, human, have a  variety of sleep problems, some with fancy medical names and others without.  One of the ones without a particularly fancy clinical name involves uninhibited dreaming, which I do vividly and a lot.  When I  dream, for whatever reasons, the normal muscle inhibitions that keep most humans still, don’t apply to me (though I don’t sleepwalk, thank you doG)..  But my limbs act out whatever I am dreaming.  In the morning, pillows usually litter the floor, bedside tables are often upended, lamps sometimes overturned, water glasses too frequently spilled or shattered.  My husband has escaped this turmoil into his own space as we have aged.  Not a marital problem, more a matter of survival.

The hounds, however, still like to sleep cuddled next to me, even though they must be awakened frequently. one snuggles into the small of my back, one nestles against my stomach, and the pitbull mix dozes at my feet. The dogs all simply readjust themselves  whenever a  human earthquake takes place.

This morning I was dreaming that I was sitting across the desk from a client and for whatever reason I leaned back in my desk chair to an almost prone position and then I couldn’t right myself again to a sitting position, to my great embarrassment.   My client helpfully reached across the desk to offer me his hand to pull me upright again into a sitting position and regain my posture. I gratefully grasped his hand.  Then,  to my dismay, I realized that my client hadn’t any fingers on his hand and had extended to me a pointed stump for me to grasp onto.  His lack of fingers was a  feature about him I had never noticed before and I felt incredibly unobservant and insensitive.

I woke up with a start to discover I had my hand firmly curled around basset hound Mila’s snout.  For her part, Mila seemed perplexed but was wagging her tail. Good morning, Mom!

I love my dogs.  Val of Hawaii, mom to Mila, Pw. Mariah the Maraudah, and pit mix Ipo