Imperfect Progress Titles

My parents were opposites when it came to a lot of things but the most evident was sleep. Mom was one of those people who would stay up late and then fight the alarm clock in the morning. But dad loved to go to bed early and he was usually up between 2 and 4 in the morning.

Mom’s pastime was reading and shed often be in bed with a book of several hours till she drifted off to sleep.

As a young adult who doesn’t sleep nearly enough, I’d be up late and usually called her past 10pm without even checking the time. Usually these conversations were meant to be 5 minutes and would turn into an hour.

Sometimes if I spent too long talking without a response, mom would have fallen asleep on the other end of the phone. Occasionally I’d hear her snoring and realized I’d lost her. Sometimes I’d call her back but usually I’d just let her sleep.

In addition to going to bed early, dad loved naps. If a football game was on, you could bet my dad was upstairs “watching” (sleeping). Pretty much any sport was a great way to get in a nap. Any sport but golf, that is. Dad always said “golf is so boring you can’t even sleep to it.”

Often in the afternoons I’d go upstairs and rub dad’s back while we talked until he fell asleep. In this half-awake state my dad would agree to pretty much anything.

He promised to buy me a car when I turned 16, send me to Europe when I graduated high school, and much more. None of these promises were kept because I’m the only one who remembered them.