Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I'm not going to lie - I love to sleep. Even as a child, I never really fought my parents about going to bed because I was happy to visit the sandman. Although the experts recommend seven to eight hours of sleep for the average adult, I need nine to ten hours on most nights. When I was pregnant, particularly during the first trimester, I was so exhausted that I slept 10-12 hours each night and napped for three to four hours each afternoon.

I'm all for sleep. But it needs to happen only at appropriate times, yes?

Today I attended an all-day workshop to earn some continuing education credits to maintain my therapy license. During the opening remarks, the speaker disclosed that there were about 300 local teachers, counselors, nurses, and other professionals attending the conference. The focus of the conference was risky behaviors that adolescents engage in - drugs and alcohol, sex, eating disorders, and social networking. I found all of the presentations to be engaging and applicable to my work.

Apparently others did not.

I saw two women blatantly put their heads down and go to sleep. At a table with nine other attendees. In a room of over 300 people. And what takes the cake is a woman sitting across from me at my table. She fell asleep sitting in her chair and fell out of her chair! Yes - FELL OUT OF HER CHAIR! Who does that? She woke up when she hit the floor, and then chatter ensued around the room. I over heard one woman say rather loudly, "She fell asleep and fell on the floor," explaining what happened to her curious tablemates. Most of all, I felt badly for the speaker, who amazingly kept her composure during this disruption.

I have never fallen asleep in class, at a meeting, or anywhere else where I'm expected to be attentive. Other than as an infant, I have never fallen asleep at church. I can only think of two public places where I've caught some shut-eye: airplanes and buses. Because I am discretionary in my choices of where to sleep, I guess I assumed that other adults are too. I just couldn't believe grown, professional (and I use that term loosely) women thought that there was nothing wrong with going to sleep at a conference and were bold enough to put their heads right on the table! If these women are servicing at-risk teens, no wonder these kids continue to have problems. The people who are supposed to be serving as their mentors and role models don't even behave appropriately!

Enough for now. If I post this entry within the next four minutes, my sleep schedule will work out perfectly: two hours to read and watch TV and 10 hours to sleep. Woot woot!