resetting my biological clock

Yesterday I woke up at about 9 AM and stayed up until nearly 10 PM. I then took a one-hour nap and returned to my post, helping to care for Mom. Karl, Dad and I have been taking shifts; at least one of us is always up, usually two of us at once. Dad went to bed first last night. Karl followed at around 4 AM but got back up immediately because Mom was beginning to get restless again, having trouble breathing. He had already taken an Ambien so he had trouble staying awake. Mom was really struggling so I roused Dad just in case the end was approaching. Gradually, Mom settled down and Karl went back to bed, followed shortly thereafter by Dad. I was left alone with Mom until about 9:30 AM. Once Dad and Karl were both up, I sacked out. By then it was after 10.

At 2 PM my daughter Anna called from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, where she is stationed in the Marine Corps. She wished she could be here but of course the military is quite busy all over the world right now. We had a long talk and she had a chance to speak with my Dad as well.

After Anna's call I went back to bed and just got back up at around midnight. Karl isn't ready for bed yet so I'm trying to get some things done (and get my blood flowing so I can be fully awake). When Dad brews coffee he puts in one part regular to three parts decaf. I went right ahead and brewed the hi-test stuff for my night shift.

On a lighter note, I have finally established contact with the girl (woman, now) on whom I've had a crush since seventh grade German class. We barely ever spoke during our school years, mostly because I was too shy to approach her, but we caught each other's eyes all the time. She finally entered her name at Classmates.com recently and I immediately sent her an email. We've written back and forth a couple of times since then and this has lifted my mood tremendously. There is little chance that we'll meet in person anytime soon - she's in another state now - but, thanks to the portability of email communications, future contact is now possible.