There is something sinister about 3 a.m.
All goodness is fast asleep along with common sense and any level of sanity I have left. It is not a good time to reflect on anything.
It’s the time when any ache is fatal and any noise will result in death.
Back in the day, 3 a.m. was when I was taking off my mascara and getting ready to hop into bed for a good night’s sleep. Now it’s when I am waking up for my first (or maybe second) bathroom trip.
Sometimes it’s a long time before I go back to sleep and those brain cells work overtime turning the banal and mundane into scary life-ending experiences.
It’s also when I remember that I need to update my will, check my life choices and revisit the music I want played at my funeral.
Did I put my credit card back after my last purchase?
Did I lock the back door?
Is there any wonder why I don’t enjoy sleep like I did in the old days?
I blame having so many cats on 3 a.m. I used to have one cat. Any noise during the night would be attributed to that cat. I would roll over and go back to sleep immediately. There was no threat lurking. It was just the cat.
Then the cat died. In the interim until I adopted another, I noticed all those noises that I was sure were caused by the late cat, were still there. Could this be the ghost of cats past?
Not likely. More likely it was the moans and groans of a house with plumbing and heating systems that breathe and heave. They aren’t heard during the day because of all the other noise.
To finish the cat story, I keep multiple cats to ensure there is at least one to blame for all noise and odd occurrences (like books falling off of shelves and misplaced keys). Four cats ensure my sanity. (I know that sounds counter intuitive but go with me on that one.)
Many years ago, I spent an hour checking a water gushing sound that I was sure was a massive broken water pipe coming to flood the house and wash it down the street. It was that or a tsunami although I don’t live anywhere near an ocean. I was thinking of that ark.
How long does it take to build an ark? Do I have the right stuff? Is Home Depot open?
It was the water softener back flushing. (I came close to calling my brother at 3 a.m. about that one!)
Yes, in the old days sleep meant climbing into cool, soft sheets, occasionally with a cat.
It meant drifting off to mostly good places and dreams of hope and promise.
I would so enjoy one of those “sleeps” now!
Sometimes I have 3AM’s for 24 hours.
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Gotta hate that!
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Oh, those thoughts at 3 AM! Sometimes, it’s 1 or 2 AM. Whatever the time, it’s brutal.
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Yes, always brutal!
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Don’t be alarmed…it’s only me…living and trying to sleep in your spare bedroom. I’m surprised we haven’t passed each other on the way to the loo. Oh…my two cats came with me…you’ll not be surprised at how quiet they are…not. I’ve put the kettle on…how about a cuppa? Meet you in your kitchen….
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Sounds perfect to me. I like mine black.
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My bladder wakes me up sometimes to listen to water softener or the heater going off and on. But most of the nights during the school break I have slept well. When school’s on, I often have those middle of the night wake-up sessions reviewing what happened, what should of happened, what needs to happen, and so forth. The only good thing about it is that the next night I’m exhausted and sleep well.
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So true. It’s rare to have consecutive bad nights but it has happened.
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Late night thinking is the curse of responsible, caring, loving people. You are obviously all three of those. I would feel perfectly safe in your house, particularly at 3 AM! 🙂
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Or I am just crazy!
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Pingback: A near coup d’état! | For animal lovers | Views and Mews by Coffee Kat
Kate … Here’s some good news that I hope will let you sleep thru the night: You were among my top five commenters in 2014 according to WordPress’s annual report. Thank you for your support. (You were number 2 of the top 5.) 😉
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Thanks! and you were among my top 5 too!
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Happy to be part of the Kate Crimmins fan club. The very best to you and yours in 2015. 😉
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I can’t believe you blamed cats for this sinister time of night! My kitties never wake me up. They lie there, all snuggled up in their blankets and/or beds (depending on whether they are sleep with mom and dad cats or sleep by myself cats), all night long. They don’t even get up until they are sure I am up for good.
So sorry you don’t sleep well . . . .
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Only Jake. He is an indoor/outdoor cat and he still thinks he wants to hunt pre-dawn. He rarely goes out these days but he still wakes me up. The other three sleep peacefully until we all get up.
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Aw. This morning when I got up it was still dark and little (chubby) Tiger opened one eye (like a dog) and said, “Come back to bed. It’s warm in here.” I almost could hear her groan, as if I was going to make her get out of bed.
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Sigh! That doesn’t happen in my house. We are a group of early risers and no one likes to let me sleep too late.
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They say your bio clock has a low around 3 AM …and it’s stresses the body to be awake then…great…now there’s something else to fret over while trying to get back to sleep…
I had managed to retrain my self to sleep/turn over respecting the cat’s self assigned seat (launching her off the bed in the middle of the night was simply too disturbning and loud), but when the dog stopped sleeping in the crate and moved to the end of the bed – wait…is that a chewing sound – yes, it’s ripping and tearing sounds. “Molly, don’t eat your bed!”…worse she has figured it out, so now when she feels bored or lonely in the middle of the night….or if she’s upset the cat is playing toss and scramble after the mousie in the bathtub…
Yes, official nuts…comes with sleep deprivation…
Hilarious post!
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I am NOT staying at your house anytime soon! The good news is that when we have company the cats are totally good.
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Kate bathroom trips and wretched cats who jump on my head to be let outside, to go to the dirt room. At 3 and 4am then hubby goes to work at 5am. I hear you. Hope you get some peace.
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Sounds like there is no point in going to sleep at your house. Maybe you can catch a nice nap (with the cats) in the afternoon.
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May I join you in hating 3 am? This morning 3 am was way too early for me. Until a few weeks ago, I had a great reservation for my return from Indianapolis. It was supposed to be early this afternoon. But Frontier totally cancelled it and put me on a 6 am flight, which meant I had to get up at 3:30 (12:30 am Seattle time). I am not an early riser, and in recent years I can’t seem to take a nap. Plus we had this big Medieval feast last night, which kept me from going to bed early. So I’ve spent the afternoon half-asleep, waiting for my real bedtime. I don’t think I’m going to wake up at 3 am tonight.
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Early morning flights always booger me up. I’m afraid I’ll oversleep even though I never do so I am up every hour. Hope you slept like a baby!
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I did sleep well, thank you. Not like a baby, but good enough.
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I don’t mind 3 AM and am usually getting up then. It’s the only time my ISP has any speed to it. 😦 By about 8 AM I finish posting and commenting. It is 6:30 PM now and thought just perhaps maybe no one else would be pulling the power. No, wrong.
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Gosh that’s awful. I don’t have that problem here.
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Little hick town. It just gets worse. Too many people on the line I guess and no relief in sight. I have written letters. Get excuses back. 😦 Just live with it.
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I live near Philadelphia so it’s pretty good although we can’t get Fios because they are not installing it here. The cable hook up isn’t bad but in the beginning when we had dial up, it was awful.
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I want to go back to not a care in the world, other than getting that mascara off at 3 a.m., which could sometimes be a challenge.
Hope you sleep tight tonight …Zzzzzzz
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Somehow things were simpler when it came to sleeping. Maybe with the hectic schedule I was exhausted. Then again the need to sleep lessens with age. Sure could have used some of these extra hours when I was young!
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I have no trouble falling asleep, it’s staying asleep. I usually wake up by 2:30 am. My alarm is set to go off at 4:00, but I never need it. I can only imagine how much more energy I would have if I could sleep six or seven hours uninterrupted…sounds wonderful.
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Why would you set your alarm for 4? That sounds soooo early! I haven’t set an alarm in years even when I was working. (Well, if I was catching a plane I would set one just in case but it was never necessary as I would wake up every hour to check the time.)
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I get to work at 6:00 a.m. in order to beat the traffic. I like to get a little writing in, along with my coffee, before I hit the road. It’s amazing the number of people on the road at that hour.
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I was going through my credit card receipts last night and found a mystery purchase (actually 2 @ $9.99) on a Target receipt. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I bought that day several weeks ago. So, this morning at 3am I decided – since I was awake anyway – to walk through Target in my mind, visiting each department trying to figure out what it was. When my virtual tour got to the electronics department, I remembered! So, not only did I get a little virtual exercise (does that count towards my 10,000 steps?), but I solved the mystery. A most productive bout of insomnia.
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You’re lucky. Most of my bouts are not that productive. I have learned even if I compose an entire blog post in my head, I won’t remember it the next morning. If it’s good enough, I’ll get up and type it out.
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When I was a kid, I slept thru everything: fire trucks roaring past our home, lightning, sirens, the dog howling. Nothing woke me up.
As an adult, I recall one night when I awoke and thought I heard typing in the next room. I’d recently taken a temporary job at an intense work place. I hesitated to move. My brain quickly computed that it was unlikely that any one would break into our apartment to use my portable typewriter. Just as I slowly moved to crawl out of bed, the noise stopped. I have no idea what it was other than my overactive brain.
Hope 2015 is more restful, Kate.
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When I sleep, I can sleep through anything but a whiny cat. However……
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Ah yes…3:00 AM…I was up. Had a fever…took tylenol…but my being up at that hour is also pretty routine! Night so magnifies every sound and every thought one has!
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My Mom always had trouble sleeping as she got older and I never understood it. Now I do. She blamed it on getting up at 5 for most of her younger years. (My Dad started at 6 and was out the door at 5:30 or so.) So true about magnifying.
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My cats wake me up to feed them since I take thir food away at night otherwise Lucy will eat everything on sight.
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I have that too. The hard food is on a highboy that Jake and Hazel (who is dieting) can’t reach. Jake get’s hungry early….like around 3 so he just wakes me up. Grrrrr.
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This was great and so redolent being the insomniac I’ve become. My latest thing is to count presidents and if I’m still awake at Teddy Roosevelt, I flip the light on to read.
Do your cats sleep with you? That must be so cozy 🙂
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Only Mollie sleeps on the bed unless I’m restless. Then she goes elsewhere. Jake has sleeping issues too so sometimes he wakes me up. I creep around for my bathroom trips so I don’t wake him up.
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In other words, you live with them…meow
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I know that routine. I often wake about 4:30 am and think about work or the to-do list until it is 6 and time to get up. Love those nights when I actually sleep through…they don’t happen often enough.
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I would love to sleep as long as 4:30. Last night it was 3 a.m. Bummer. Starbucks isn’t even open yet.
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Count sheep? (Or maybe cats in your case).
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During the night I tiptoe around so I don’t wake the cats because that makes them think it’s breakfast time. Then they get pesty. Last night I heard a catnip mouse getting flung all around the bedroom. We have a lot of other rooms but obviously it’s more fun to make noise where the big two-legged cats are sleeping.
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Sleeping like a rock . . . rocks! Hope you enjoy a deep sleep some night soon.
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This post was supposed to post tomorrow but the timing was perfect. Was up from 3 to 5 this morning for no reason at all. Was out with friends and ate something late. Maybe I can blame that!
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