Greetings, friends ~

Most people are, at this moment, tucked away in their warm beds sleeping peacefully and preparing themselves for a productive tomorrow. But not me. It is midnight here in the Garden of Good and Evil, and that means it is thinking time.

This fascinating brain of mine is busy mulling over an impossible work to-do list, next month’s budget, missing my at-college daughter, holiday planning, and how to reorganize the ever-shifting chapters of my book (Just Keep Breathing). Will I EVER get it finished? There is much to be done.

Laying in my bed with my eyes closed does not get me closer to my goals. Even medication cannot override the presentation of things I have yet to do. It is like a list with bullet points of never-ending chores and it lives in a filing cabinet in my brain. The drawer containing the things I must accomplish never closes. Like a worn-out recording, these “must-do” items roll around in my head until I get up, get dressed and start making progress toward their completion. Even though I often get to sleep well into the very late hours of each night, coffee is usually brewing by 4 a.m. each morning and I’m at it again.

How did life get this busy? One day folds into the next, building weeks that turn into months of “all-I-did-was-work.” It was just Springtime yesterday, wasn’t it? Summer flew right by, and Fall is now heavy in progress. Were it not for the trees turning to bright shades of yellows, oranges and reds, I would not even have realized the arrival of Oregon’s most beautiful time of the year.

In addition to the many projects I am balancing, the stress of life these past few years does not not play well with my need for sleep. But the glass is always half-full here in my over-productive corner of the world. I accomplish more by each midnight hour than many people do all week. At least I will have something to show for my workaholic nature.

Perhaps the Sandman will only be content here when my time on this planet expires. The final tick of the clock will summon him, and he will then stay awhile. Until that day comes (many years from now), there is work to be done. I’ll do it – I wasn’t sleeping anyway. As the old saying goes, “I can sleep when I die.”

Be well,

Jana