By The Light of the Moon

     There’s a full moon this Thursday but last night the sky was clear and the moon was bright.  I had forgotten just how bright a winter night sky can be with a full moon reflecting it’s light off of the white snowy landscape.  A person can ski the trails, snowshoe across lakes and even drive a vehicle down the Gunflint Trail without lights on and still be able to see where they are going.  What I find difficult to do when there is a bright moon shining in my window is to sleep.

     Maybe I shouldn’t blame the moon for last night’s wakefulness.  Maybe I should look at the fact my body is still in the Pacific Time Zone and I’m living in the Central Time Zone.  You wouldn’t think 2 hours would make that big of a difference but I find myself wide awake at midnight and unable to get out of bed before 8AM.  Lucky the kids are still on Christmas Vacation or I would have a rude awakening with my alarm sounding at 5:30AM. 

     I could blame the cat for my sleeplessness.  Since we’ve been home she has barely left my side.  Lanie the cat has never particularly liked me and has never been affectionate but now I find myself tripping over her more than I do Rugby.  While Rugby doesn’t come up the spiral stairs into our bedroom Lanie does.  If you close the door to keep her out then she scratches and meows to get in so we leave the door open.  The past few nights she’s been sleeping on my pillow right next to my head and sometimes on top of my arm.  She purrs constantly, so much so that I think her purr box is stuck in the "On" position.  It wouldn’t be too bad if she just laid there but she also likes to knead my head with her claws and drool on me every once in awhile.  If I put my head under the covers then she pokes her paws at me underneath the blankets until I give up and come out so she can rub against my head some more.

     When I finally fell into a sound sleep around 3AM I was startled awake by Mike.  I must have been in a deep sleep because I practically jumped out of my skin and my heart was racing.  He woke me to ask if the dog was inside because he thought he heard the fox outside.  We always keep the dog inside except when he goes out to the bathroom and I couldn’t imagine why he would be outside.  I should have just gotten up and made sure immediately but I laid there trying to hear the fox and wondering where Rugby was when finally I heard a strange squeaking noise.  

     I jumped out of bed and made my way down the stairs and quickly discovered the critter making the noise.  It was my son Josh sleeping on the couch trying to snore with a stuffed up nose.  Rugby was laying right on top of him so no need to worry any further.  By the time I made it back upstairs to bed it was close to 4AM.   

     With the shot of adrenaline in my body I laid in bed while the cat purred and Mike slept soundly. I could hear the critter downstairs every once in awhile and I couldn’t stop thinking about the work I needed to get done.  About 4:30 AM I decided I had enough and got up out of bed.  The house was lit up by the moon so I made my way down to the office by the light of the moon.    

     Whether or not I blame the cat, Mike or Josh the full moon always seems to disrupt my sleep.  I know when I took the kids to Early Childhood Classes we parents would discover all of our children acting a little squirrely when there was a full moon.  Bummer for parents and for me since this full moon is the second full moon of the month but luckily it’s the last full moon of the year.