But, there is one sports tradition that I like - the idea of a "bye." In conversation with colleagues, I will occasionally hear that a team had a bye on a given week. In thinking about this, I went to the dictionary and found this: A bye is a "situation in which a player or team is allowed to go forward to the next level in a competition without having to play against and defeat an opponent" (Merriam-Webster). Well, obviously, what I needed last Sunday was a bye. I needed to be able to go forward to the next day without defeating the current day. So, I slept - the deep and refreshing sleep of multiple naps throughout the day. Every time that I thought I would get up and get going, another round of sleep would descend on me. It was glorious and is something that only happens to me a couple of times a year. This was one of my two.
As each of us go through lives that are so busy with all of the things we have to accomplish in a day, a week, a month, or a year, the thing that we tend to squeeze out is sleep. And as we do that, it continues to get more and more difficult to do things that we need to do, much less the things we like to do. There have been times when I've been in the shop, wanting to accomplish something and have been too tired to think clearly enough to be safe. Because of the great mentors and instructors from my past, I have learned and believe that if you are not sure of your ability to focus, don't turn on the machine. Another area that I have a problem with is falling asleep when driving. My grandfather, who was an over the road driver most of his life, always told us that when you are tired, you should pull over and sleep, even if you are only a mile from home. There are all sorts of studies out there about the ills of sleep deprivation. It is absolutely critical that we rest enough on a regular basis that we can be safe and productive.
So, although I should get better sleep at night, I don't seem to be able to do that. This means that once in a while, I collapse like I did last Sunday. Fortunately, I had a very productive day on Saturday, so it didn't feel quite as bad. I had gotten seven or eight cutting boards through several processes. When they are completed, they will either become Christmas presents or will be donated to organizations for holiday fund-raisers. I worked on the landscaping project that Sara has me doing and actually made forward progress. I even cleaned the Toybox so wasn't embarrassing, which was terrific, because one of my best friends stopped by for some adult conversation. Thanks Russell, that was wonderful. All in all, a pretty successful day, and at the end, I had dinner with Sara and Megan at Rube's Steakhouse. It is phenomenal to watch a college student get the chance to have really good quality beef. In other words, I had a good day, got a lot done, and had a great dinner. All in all, Saturday was a success.
And now, in the words of Paul Harvey, "for the rest of the story." After all of the sleep that I had during the day on Sunday - maybe 5 or 6 individual naps, do you think that I could actually go to sleep on Sunday evening? Short answer here is NO. So, everything I hadn't done during the day, that could be done at night without waking Sara, I did Sunday evening and Monday morning. At the end of it, I don't think that I got any more sleep than I would have, and I got just as much work completed. But even so, I felt as though I had "won" by taking some time for no good reason, just for myself. I would encourage everyone to declare a "bye" day once in a while, even if you immediately pay the time back.
It is one of those things that is just good for the soul and we all need those once in a while. Happy napping to all of you.
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