No Time For Sleep

I'm 48, and if I live to be 100 it will be a miracle. So, let's say I watch my diet, take my blood pressure medicine, don't get hit by a logging truck driving down Hwy 37, and I live to be 72. That means I've only got 24 years left to live.

I don't have time for sleep.

Getting out my trusty little calculator, I can roughly estimate that 24 years of living translates into 210,240 hours of breathing, and I much prefer breathing to the alternative. So, I really don't have time for sleep.

I don't sleep much anyways. I usually get about five hours a night, which includes a 5-minute pee break at 3 a.m. I then either go back to sleep or just stay awake. Right now, at 3:37 a.m., I'm awake. I'm awake using my little calculator to figure out how many hours of sleep I'll accomplish over the next 24 years. And the answer is 48,000. That's almost five and half years of sleeping.

I don't have five and half years to waste on sleep.

I've got things to do, people to see, stories to write, photographs to take. I've got fish to catch, goats to feed, and miles and miles of motorcycle riding to do. I've got sunrises to see and sunsets to enjoy. I want to learn Spanish. I want to be able to recognize more constellations. I want to sail up and down the coastlines of America. I want to get my instrument rating so I can fly anytime, anywhere, no matter the weather.

I don't have time for sleep.

I haven't grilled enough hamburgers yet. I haven't read enough books yet. I haven't drunk my fair share of beers yet. I want to eat lobster in Maine, catch salmon in Alaska, drink whiskey on Bourbon Street. I want to make my kids proud that they had a father who was living, and not just sitting on the couch watching "The Wheel of Fortune."

I don't have time for sleep.

I want to make a difference. I want to make an impact. I want to rise above the mediocre, and be proud of who I am and what I've accomplished.

I've got a hell of a lot more living to do, which means I don't have time for sleep.

But maybe little naps would be okay.