Catching a Few ZZZZs

When was the last time you took a nap?  Not just a catch-it-while-you-can type of doze, but a full out ‘take your shoes off, but mostly leave your regular clothes on and lay in a somewhat comfortable horizontal position with a pillow’ type of snooze?  I indulged yesterday and I must say, I am feeling rather decadent about it.  I was going to feel culpable about lying down in the middle of the afternoon, but got over it rather quickly when I justified: a) I must have needed the extra 40 winks (maybe I am coming down with something and this is the best defense to fight it off); b) the laundry can wait another day and c) this is yet additional, prevailing proof there a greater force in life and that this force created pizza delivery and who am I to question authority?

Somewhere between the ages of four and sixty, we are brain washed that taking an afternoon break with your eyes closed is a guilty pleasure to be avoided.  Yes, it is a drooling delight, but the fulfillment that even a short catnap can produce should not be wasted on just the young and the um, old (it is all relative and 60 looks much closer now than it used to).  I was fortunate to have good advice given to me when my son was young and still in the “zone”.  It was suggested I lie down when he was taking a nap (it would have worked even better if my darling child wasn’t a ten minute power napper) - this may be the only time I could catch my breath during the day when he was on the go.

In my quest to enlighten and educate, and to track down why the negative undertone has been given to such a short, sweet word, I give you… “Word History: The famous verse 4 of Psalm 121, rendered in the King James Version as “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep,” is rendered in a Middle English translation as “Loo, ha shal not nappen ne slepen that kepeth ireal.”  The word nappen is indeed the Middle English ancestor of our word nap.  It must be realized that our word nap was at one time not associated only with the younger and older members of society nor simply with short periods of rest.  The ancestors of our word, Old English hnappian and its descendant, Middle English nappen, could both refer to prolonged periods of sleep as well as short ones and also, as in the quotation from Psalm 121, to sleepiness.  But these senses have been lost.  Since the word has become less dignified, we would not find nap used in a modern translation of Psalm 121.”

It appears, someone along the historical line took advantage of taking naps and has brought shame and dishonor to this afternoon pleasure; the indignity that napping has had to endure because of a few who disgraced its very being is reprehensible.  We must fight back and reclaim the true significance and bliss that a nap was meant to be.

For my part, I pledge at least a nap a week for starters and work my way up to three.  I will kick my shoes off and lay my head back to rest my eyes.  I will have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head year round.  I will not answer the phone during my “nap-time” nor will I audibly address the “are you sleeping” (as he wakes me up) question from my love-muffin.  I will actively advocate and speak out for the cause and try to minimize all afternoon meetings (or at best, incorporate a naptime during these sometimes marathon sessions) and strive to be a more rested, pleasant person to be around.

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life.  Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-