When I go to bed at night - I seldom fall right to sleep.
It takes me easily 20 to 30 minutes before I settle down enough to snooze.
I am restless.
My mind is busy.
My mother says there is definitely something wrong with a person that can not shut off their brain in order to go to sleep.
I just lie there.
I turn to one side and then the other.
I nudge my snoring husband and then I push him and then I YELL at him!
Then ...
I begin to ...
Mull over the important things in my life, like ...
Where will we put it?
Should we hire someone, or could we build the thing ourselves?
How big should it be?
If Twinkies really do have a shelf life of 25 years - we will certainly need lots of those.
Where is the exact perfect spot in the back yard to build that ...
UNDERGROUND FALL-OUT SHELTER?
Or ...
I contemplate the items on my ever-expanding to-do list.
Or ...
I review in my mind the food I had for dinner and ...
The food that sounds good to eat for my lunch for the next day and maybe ...
The food in my freezer that really should be thrown away.
Or ...
I review my escape plans.
You know - those for ...
Fire
Flood
Hurricane
Tornado
Blizzard
Driving my car off a bridge into the water
Invasion by aliens
BOMBS!
I have convinced myself that I have complete, detailed, workable plans that will insure the safe evacuation of me, my kids, my husband, our animals, our photos albums and my jewelry - in the event of any of these disasters.
The last one - BOMBS - I plan to simply load my family into our big blue van and head off to the hills of West Virginia. I figure we can hold up there with relatives for years, as most people don't even realize that West Virginia is a state.
When I am finally through with reviewing and contemplating and planning - I am usually so exhausted that I drift easily into a slumber......
And then ....
I dream.
On the upside ... I have been working over those fall-out shelter plans in my head for years - years! I have it all meticulously designed - down to the wireless internet. We just need to get started building that damn thing so .... I can relax about that and ... get - some - sleep!
*Note to self: Go to Big Lots - pick up 50 cans of pork & beans, lots of beef jerky and 10 cases of Twinkies and ... check back on the hardware aisle to see if they carry gas masks*