How much sleep do we really need?

 One of the things I miss most since entering a more mature age is sleep. Growing up as I did, I learned to sleep anywhere, anytime, any spot I happened to lay my head down in. 

I am not sure if it was because I was a kid or because I played so hard during the day, but I never, ever had problems sleeping once those peepers were closed. 

In the last year or so that has changed. Now if I manage 4 hours a night, I feel extremely lucky. According to familydoctor,.org, just because you are older, you still need between 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I have never sleep that much except during my teen years but I always seemed to manage at least 6. That has disappeared. 

This site and several others also say, "As we age, our brains may tell us to go to sleep earlier. This is likely why so many folks fall asleep right after the evening news or dinner." Really? 

Last night I could not hold my eyes open past 7:45 p.m. I had a busy day and drove about 4 hours roundtrip to see my brother and my best friend. I did several chores around the house when I got home and went to bed. After about 4 hours, I was wide awake. I tossed and turned for several hours until finally giving up and getting up.

I was wide awake even without my morning cup of coffee. So I made coffee, let the dogs out after they woke up, and turned on the television. I did all my normal morning stuff, just 3 hours early. Perhaps I will be able to take a short nap during the day, but I know if that happens, sleep will allude me again tonight. I back to work tomorrow, so that scenario doesn't feel positive. 

So I will treat this like any other Sunday. I do plan on some yard work today. That may tire me more and hope for a better sleep outcome tonight. I am not sure why my sleep has been so off unless it is simply an age thing but I don't like it. I guess that doesn't matter since it has become the norm for me. I guess as long as I am not falling asleep in class, I am getting enough sleep. It sure feel weird, though. 

Growing older is not for the weak

 When you are young, you are invincible and you cannot imaging getting old. Especially old like your grandparents. You breeze through most things and you handle them with panache. 

When I was 22, right after my son was born, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Most people don't know that. I chose to have a vaginal hysterectomy at that time because I had no plans to have any more children. Being a single mom with one child after my divorce was enough for me to handle.

Since that time, I have been relatively healthy. I am not on a lot of drugs for any serious health issues and didn't really have any aches or pains until I went through menopause. Now let the fun begin. 

Several weeks ago, I happened to be putting some moisturizer on my face and noticed a small lump right next to my ear. I had no idea how long it had been there but knew it was not normal, so I called and made an appointment with my GP.

She felt it, looked at my medical records and told me it was a Parotid tumor. A what? I had never heard of this before. Your Parotid gland is a salivary gland on the side of your face. You have one on each side. She assured me they are normally benign but she was going to order a CT scan and make an appointment for me to an ENT doctor in the group.

I went for the CT scan and waited on the results. The radiologist said it looked like a Parotid tumor, most of the time benign, but just to be on the safe side, recommended a biopsy. Doctor called to let me know that I would be receiving a call from the hospital because that is where needle aspirations were done. 

So then I went to have the needle biopsy, which I had never had before, done. I had convinced myself I would just close my eyes which they were doing it but having a monitor right in front of me where I could watch the doctor thread a hollow needle in to this mass to get samples was so interesting to me,  I forgot about closing my eyes. Then it was done and I was on my way home. 

Now I get to sit and wait for those results to go back to my doctor so we can schedule a visit with an ENT so we can schedule a date for the removal of the tumor. This is advisable even when no cancer cells are present because they can grow and become cancerous.  ( I did lots of research on Parotid tumors)

So I continue to go about my daily routine and wait to hear from the doctor. I could call everyone I know and tell them the whole story, but that would do no good. It sure wouldn't make me feel better. I feel fine. 

I have decided that I am glad I was raised to face things with a positive outlook. If I had been like some people I know, I would already be digging my grave.  

She ordere

 

When I was younger, I was pretty geeky. I found out very early that I was pretty smart and school came easily to me. I had parents who encouraged me to work hard and I could be anything I wanted to be. I was called a teacher's pet, too many times to mention. 

When I hit puberty, my hair became greasy, pimples began cropping up and my legs and underarms became pretty hairy. That was when the bullying really began. I was called greaseball, zit face, gorilla legs and several other choice names I won't put on paper. It was a tough time for me but I tried to keep my grades up and would disappear in my tree when I got home and read books. I didn't have many friends then and when the decision was made to move back to Florida when I was in 9th grade, I was happy for the change.

My self confidence soared when I was so accepted at my new school. They liked me even though my grades stayed up. I ended up with good grades until I graduated and continued to develop my self confidence. I have a lot of friends and teachers to thank for helping me but I never knew how much it might affect those around me. 

I have said, almost since I began working, that I would not work a job I was miserable in. I work the same way I did school. With my all. I give it the best I can and I think that should be recognized. So my whole life working, I never hesitated to make sure that I my concerns were heard if I had a problem. 

I have had people ask me if I am scared I will get fired? What happens when you lose your job? What if you make your boss mad? Short story is, I don't worry about it. If someone in this day and age wants you to not have a job, they will find a way to make it happen. 

When I was gainfully employed by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, I did a great job. I was always there. I could do just about any job they asked me to do and they paid me well for that job. I had my whole life planned out around that. Then I was called in a room, along with a bunch of other people, and told I would no longer have a job after a certain date. 

Then trying to find a job in the business that you had been employed in for 35 years was impossible. There just weren't enough of those jobs to go around. So at one point I was a 46 year old working 3 jobs to try and make sure my mortgage was paid. I didn't complain. Why? That would not have solved anything. 

So I learned that no matter how positive you are; how good at your job you are; how much you can bring to the company, if they want to let you go, you really have no say in it. So I decided to make sure that I did have a say. My say now is, "...so fire me. I will find another job."

My son brought this to my attention last night when he informed me that he was much happier now his self confidence was approaching the same level as mine. He was not scared to lose his job because he would not be able to find another one. He said he learned that from me. I guess there are worse things. 

We need more front porches

 

I have a variety of friends, some cultivated over years of conversation and some, simply because we have something in common.

The interaction between some of my friends continues to baffle me and with social media becoming so prevalent in most peoples' lives, it becomes even more interesting. People watching, if you will, on typed conversations. 

I had noticed that people tolerate other people complaining about their jobs much more than they do when a teacher complains. If a teacher complains everyone begins with the, "You knew what you were getting in to." "I thought you loved the kids." "Yeah, but you get summers off," The list can go on forever. I posted something on social media about this. 

Normally, I don't get a lot of response to my posts but I had one of my teacher peeps respond that he didn't put up with anyone complaining about their work, etc. I didn't think too much about it; he is what I call a conservative liberal and he does like to make statements just for the sake of arguing but he is fun and I laugh a lot. 

Then one of my other friends responded with a pretty vitriolic answer. I was actually surprised because I did not find what friend number one said to be that right winged. Then, of course, my other friend came back with a "Who pissed in your Wheaties?" question/

At that point, I wrote another post explaining who each was and telling them no fighting on my page. One poster removed his comments and apologized.

As our society continues to split and humans become more and more removed from each other, dependent on technology to communicate, I think we need more houses with front porches, open to our friends, where you could grab a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee and talk. Just talk about things. And listen. Just listen about things. I think there would be less misunderstanding and more tolerance for different ideas. 

Just make sure the ones in Florida are screened. I think we can all agree that we don't like mosquitoes.