Middle of the night
I can't remember the last time I slept through the night. It was probably before my first pregnancy - and that's a good 35 years ago! But, one of the benefits of retirement is that it no longer matters if I get a full night of sleep. When I had a real job, I used to fret that I wouldn't be able to function the next day if I didn't get 8 hours of rest. And the fretting added to the inability to get back to sleep. In time, I began to embrace the fact that segmented sleep was inevitable. I would reason that I would just have to push through the day, double up on coffee in the morning, and try to get to bed earlier the following night. Now, it doesn't matter if my sleep is interrupted. For one thing, I can always take a nap. Although I'm still riddled with guilt about lying down in the middle of the day, I do enjoy the extra zip I get from 20 minutes on the couch. When I turn in at night, I fully expect to spend some period of time awake and alone in the dark......