Snoopy Writes

Friday night was indeed a dark and stormy night. It didn't start out that way. Oh sure, it was cloudy and every now and again I drove through a few spots of rain, but it wasn't stormy. In fact, sitting outside yesterday evening was quite pleasant. I could tell something was changing, though. The air had an undeniable damp chill and there was a certain unexplainable tension.


Typically, I love stormy nights. The sudden flash of lightning and the distant rumble of thunder that rolls ever closer is thrilling to me. They just feel different than daytime storms. However, these storms did not get cranked up until this morning around 2:30am. To make matters worse, I had gone to bed late and really needed some sleep.

It was sheer folly on my part to believe I would sleep soundly. This past week has been particularly stressful on a personal level and I did not seem to have the ability to shut off my mind. Insomnia was a given but I usually try to remain on the optimistic side of things. So when the storms came crashing through I curled up into a tighter ball and squinted my eyes shut more tightly. As if that would help the situation!


I gave up at 2:47. On top of all the other stresses, I was worried about Luke. The storm had gotten quite noisy and I wanted to make sure he wasn't afraid. As I made my way down the hall I remembered Luke is not the pet who is afraid of storms. Our dear Rush was the storm-timid one. A wave of grief washed over me as I stood in the hallway. I am not used to his absence and still expect to see him when I'm at the house. Luke was fine of course and greeted me with a purry meow that signified his favorite topic of conversation: "Feed me, now." Much to his chagrin I rubbed is sleek black fur and sat down at the Dell to waste some time with the hope that sleep would eventually come back to me.

The rest of the night was spent in a blurry haze of half-dozing and wakefulness. I would feel myself starting to fall asleep and pull myself back awake. There are times when I just cannot allow myself to sleep, and last night was one of those times. However, the sun came up this morning and the day turned out to be a good one.


Aslan was a good kitty late this afternoon. He let me know under no uncertain terms that I needed to take a nap. I gave in to his demands and we spent a snoozeful hour together. He was not sure about letting me get up when I was ready, but I still had things to accomplish during my day so he reluctantly let me go.

The question that lingers in my mind is this: Would I have slept if last night had not been stormy?