Much too young for feeling this damn old...or something like that

There are certain times in my life when I'm reminded that 1) I'm not as young as I once was and 2) my body hates me when I treat myself like I'm as young as I once was.

So I come to work looking (and feeling) hungover but, unfortunately, at my age, that just means I'm sleep deprived and operating without coffee.

I did it to myself last night. It's like committing a crime against myself that I know I'm going to regret but there's nothing I can do to stop it because doing it was too much fun.

Being home-home (that means at mom's house) makes me not want to leave so I became enraptured with the-way-my-family-is around the dinner table and I let the hours slip by. I should have driven the four hours home (singular=my house) last night but 10:30 turned into 11:30 and before we knew it it was midnight and the jokes were flowing freely and my stupid "Would you Rather" game was in full swing. Who could abandon that, right?

Exactly.

When I finally laid down on the couch it was 12:30. I set my alarm for 4 being that I still had stuff to pack, I had to navigate the driveway, switch the stuff from mom's truck to my car and begin the 4-drive home and make it to work by 9:30.

Let the sleeping commence.

NOT.

I laid there for hours...literally. And despite the fact that I only had 4 hours to sleep and the fact that I kept telling myself that fact, I tossed, turned, laid there awake, tried to keep my eyes shut, etc., etc., etc.

Then I realized. I was cracked out on sweet tea.

I've been craving it and mom had made a fresh pitcher for dinner that stayed with us on the table during our late-night familial gathering. And I kept drinking. and drinking. and drinking.

Making the discovery didn't help the sleeping situation at all.

Finally, at 2:30 I fell asleep. Even then it was the kind of sleep where I knew I was falling asleep. You know what it is - it's not the head-hit-the pillow sleep. It's the "I know I'm drifting, drifting, drifting, now I'm gone" sleep.

The alarm went off at 4. I got up at 4:20, dressed, did the hair (kinda), packed my stuff, navigated the driveway, transferred said stuff and hit the road.

So it's Monday and like most Mondays, it's a little nuts. To add to the nutti-ness, I'm trying to survive on 1 1/2 hours of sleep, one cup of coffee, a sweet-tea hangover, four hours of driving and one TV dinner.

Nap-time can't come soon enough.