At Least It Wasn't Raining

Thanks to my incredible friend MemeGRL, I was able to complete yet another really, really long paper the other day.  You see, she was one of the many people (alright, she was probably the only one) who read my post in which I droned on and on (but in a funny, light-hearted way - really, you should go read it now) about how hard it is to stay focused on completing all the papers I must write in order to make my teaching certificate active again, and then she offered her house as a place for me to go and do work.  She works from home some of the time now, so we agreed upon a day that would work for both of us.

It was great.  I got to be somewhat social (okay, that always reminds me of The Breakfast Club: "So it's sorta social, demented and sad, but social."  Anybody?), catch up a little with a great friend, AND accomplish so much! 

I was so tired as I worked (as I so often am), so I knew if I had been home I would have probably laid down to nap and unintentionally wasted the entire day.  I got home around 2:40, my eyelids still heavy, so I decided I would allow myself a short nap.  I set an alarm clock for 3:10 and put it away from the side of my bed so I would be forced to get out of bed to turn it off.  And then I fell asleep.

The next thing I know, I am vaguely aware of the sound of the phone ringing and a pounding on the door.  I look at the clock which now somehow reads 3:51.  The pounding on the door is the kids who have been trying to get in for the last ten minutes.

I run downstairs, unlock and open the door, and find all three kids sitting in front of the door along with a worried looking boy from the next street over.  Twin B is sitting in a chair reading, Twin A is sorting the mail into piles on the ground, and The Princess immediately begins talking excitedly.

"What happened?!!  We've been banging on the door for so long!  Miss M (our next-door-neighbor) let us call you, but you never answered." 

[I later discovered Miss M even went so far as to call DH on his cell phone to let him know what was happening.  Luckily just as the call went through, I opened the door.]

"F and her mom (neighbors from across the street) came over and Twin A used her SmartPhone to call you again, but you know Twin A!  He became obsessed with the phone and wouldn't give it back." 

[It's true.  People with Asperger's usually have an intense area of interest, and for Twin A, it's all electronics.  We are just hoping he will grow up to become the CEO of some amazing new software company and take care of us in our old age.]

"We were soooo worried.  What happened?!!!!"

Of course, all through her dramatic diatribe, the boys are both bringing their stuff in and sharing various non sequiters about whatever flashes through their minds, so it is hard to focus on The Princess anyway, but my head was spinning as I tried to figure out what was going on.

The truth is, I have no idea what happened.  Me, the person who never rarely goes into a deep sleep at night, the person who even has medication she is supposed to be taking to force her body to go into more deep sleep - I must have fallen asleep and gone into such a deep, deep sleep I didn't hear anything at all.

I am completely mortified that not only did I sleep through my alarm, I slept through the kids pounding on the door AND more than one neighbor calling me to wake me up.  I am mortified that I left my kids out there while I slept.

And I know this was my wake up call to get this whole Narcolepsy thing under control.  Which means going to bed consistently at a decent hour.  And taking that stupid Xyrem to really sleep and not wake up twenty thousand times a night.  And getting up by seven every day.  And losing this weight I've been carrying around.

On a related note, did you see what I did up there when I wrote "wake up call"?  I figure as long as I can make myself laugh, it's okay.