If either family, friends or yourself has kids under the age of five, you know about “nap time”. Those magic hours for kids usually being 1:00 to 3:00.  Perhaps you have even scheduled an event around nap time.  A birthday party at 11:00 or a dinner or holiday get together starting around four?

As a chronically ill person, whenever I hear these times, especially in the afternoon, I think, “But what about my nap?”  If you are sick, you are nodding, if you are not, you may be laughing at me.  But the truth is I have a meltdown physically and mentally if I don’t have a nap and my nap time is between 3:30 and 5:30.

I panic when I hear an occasion is going to be a bit after three, after “nap time”. How am I going to get through it?  Usually what will happen when I get home from these events is I am weeping, handing Tyler over to Grant and going to bed for the rest of the night even if it’s six or 7:00.

This weekend it’s a double whammy for me.  Two occasions, no naps.  December is a tough time for us chronic nappers.  It’s hard not to become “over-scheduled” and for a sick person, that doesn’t take much.

As I take my nap later this afternoon, I will make sure to treasure it.

Ah, the days when my son napped with me!