Since I was a little girl, I’ve been a night owl.

I like to stay up, reading, writing, thinking late into the night.

And I am the living worst to have to get up early in the morning.

Today marks my 14 year anniversary as a nurse and I’ve always preferred night shift in my work life as well.

Since I’ve been dealing with illness, my pain is even less at night.

As I’ve been spending much time bedbound recently, I’ve been doing a great deal of reading (I hate the stuck in bed part; I adore the reading), including poetry, which I love dearly but often overlook in the busyness of day to day life.

And I came across this poem, that I love so much I just have to share:

The Sleepless Ones

What if all the people

who could not sleep

at two or three or four

in the morning

left their houses

and went to the parks

what if hundreds, thousands,

millions

went in their solitude

like a stream

and each told their story

What if there were

old women

fearful if they slept

they would die

and young women 

unable to conceive

and husbands 

having affairs

and children

fearful of failing

and fathers 

worried about paying bills

and men

having business troubles

and women unlucky in love

and those that were in physical

pain

and those who were guilty

What if they all left their houses

like a stream

and the moon 

illuminated their way and

they came, each one

to tell their stories

would these be the more troubled

of humanity

or would these be

the more passionate of this world

or those who need to create to live

or would these be

the lonely

ones

And I ask you

if they all came to the parks

at night 

and told their stories

would the sun on rising

be more radiant and

again I ask you

would they embrace.

– Lawrence Tirnauer

This one has easily made my top 5 favorite poems list. And prompted me to dig through my library for some of my poetry books that I haven’t gotten around to reading.

As for the rest of my night, I’ve been working on my oil business and also looking at some ideas for next month because I realized that, just as some scary words like “disabled” (in terms of my ability to do floor nursing) are starting to enter the picture, I’ll be able to start seeing health coaching clients in September.

Rather than panic, I believe there is greater timing at play here and it will all work out.

Onward.

Be well, everybody.

Love and light. 💜❤️💙💚💛