NAPTIME

I was laying on the couch, eyes closed, when I heard Steven quietly walk past me. “I'm up.” I said as I stretched and looked out the window. I could see it was already late in the afternoon. “How long have I been napping?” I asked as I tried to see the clock on the side table.

“You've been out for at least two hours.” Steven said as he sat next to me on the couch and looked for the television remote.

“Oh, that's way too long.” I complained. “I'm going to have to work on my napping skills.”

Steven started to laugh. “What kind of skills does it take to nap?”

“Oh, you'd be surprised.” I folded the afghan and put it back on the arm of the couch. “Power naps are only supposed to be 20 or 30 minutes. Two hours is going to mess up my sleep tonight.” I settled back down on the couch. “So what were you doing while I was napping?” I asked.

Steven plugged in the heating pad and put it on his shoulder. “I cleaned out the gutters and straightened out the shed.”

“Wow! It sounds like you got a lot accomplished too!”

“Too?” Steven looked surprised. “Since when is napping getting something accomplished?”

I put my feet up on the coffee table. “It seems you don't want to understand the importance of napping.” I cleared my throat, ready to recite all the benefits I'd been reading about. “Universities have done a lot of studies, and not only does it keep my stress hormones down, it also helps with my creativity.” I looked over at him and smiled. “So you see I'm working hard on becoming smarter, saner and healthier all through the art of napping!”

“So now napping is an art?” I could see Steven wasn't impressed with my napping facts as he adjusted his heating pad.

So, I decided to continue with my facts. “You know, we're one of the few countries who don't promote naps.” I was nodding my head hoping Steven would join me in agreeing with these facts. “Did you know Spain, Germany and Japan all believe naps help their citizens to be more productive.”

There was still no reaction from Steven.

I finally just shrugged my shoulders and gave it one last try. “It also helps me keep my weight down.”

Now Steven looked interested. “They have research on that?”

“Well, no.” I admitted. “But I've noticed that in the late afternoon when I'm craving a candy bar or a cup of tea, to get me going, a short nap makes the cravings go away!”

Steven shook his head and laughed. “So you're answer to hunger is to take a nap?” He didn't sound very impressed.

I pulled the afghan off the arm of the couch. “You seem to be a little cranky right now.” I tucked the afghan around his legs. “I've found a nap helps with that too.” I gave him a quick kiss on his forehead. “I'll come back in 30 minutes to wake you up.”