“You’re getting sleepy. Very, very sleepy.”
At least I think that’s what Tanner’s saying when he looks at me with those big brown eyes.
Especially this afternoon. Rain splashes against the windows and chimes swing in the breeze just loud enough to hear them through our screen door. Inside, the house is quiet except a humming refrigerator and our yawns.
Tanner’s right. I am sleepy.
When our daughter’s 70-pound chocolate lab mix snuggles into his sleeping bag, even in the heat of summer, he makes me want to curl up beside him. He makes sleep look heavenly.
It’s probably because he knows how to prepare himself. Tanner has a ritual.
It goes something like this.
He paces around the room a few times, then stretches his front paws as far forward as they’ll reach while wagging his tail in the air. Then he pushes in the opposite direction and stretches out his back legs and drags them a little, just to work out any tension. At least, that what I figure he’s doing. He yawns big enough to swallow a person. When he straightens up, he’s ready to get into his sleeping bag. If no one helps, he walks over within inches of your face and stares. He’s tall enough to make eye contact so it works.
I guess you’ve guessed Tanner is serious about his naps.
And I get it after reading napping articles and tips from Sara Mednick. She’s a sleep researcher at the University of California, San Deigo, and she’s written a book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life.
That’s a huge claim, but likely valid. Nappers are in good company with the likes of Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and George W. Bush. I’m starting to agree with Susan, Tanner, and my husband (a huge nap enthusiast), naps are necessary.
Do you take naps or skip them? If you nap, do you hunker down for the afternoon or take a 30-minute power nap?
WRite wHere I’m supposed to be – Even after reading numerous stories about naps, submitting my own article to be published, being encouraged by my siesta-taking friends, and listening to my husband preach the benefits of 40 winks, there’s nothing quite as convincing as a dog’s sleepy eyes. Hope you’re convinced too.
On the side: I posted this under the category of Faith after writer and friend Lori Roeleveld commented, “I think sleep is an act of faith. It’s our way of saying ‘You run the world, Lord. Me, I’ve got limits.’”