Counting Sheep

People with ADDled brains such as mine often have trouble falling asleep, especially at the end of an overstimulating day. Our minds do not switch to the down mode easily; our thoughts, plans and ideas keep rolling along, often in fragments, preventing the pleasant drifting off into the Land of Nod.

Back when we moved to Lexington, to the new house that I often described as a box surrounded by sand, the job of transforming the barren outdoors to something resembling a yard fell on me. So I challenged myself to learn as much as I could about gardening, flowers, grasses and plants, and before long, among that mountain of info I acquired, I had many botanical names both common and scientific down pat. I loved the sound as I rolled them off my tongue. And I began to use them in a non-gardening way.

Back then if I was having trouble falling asleep, I went through the alphabet naming flowers - Ageratum, Black eyed Susan, Coneflower, Dahlia. Sometimes I would go through the alphabetic list three or four times as there are so many flowers with interesting names, and that would excite me. Purpose defeated. Eventually I found the more specific I made it, the more focused I got . . . and sleepier, too. Lately I have been thinking of Bible verses or attributes of God that begin with each letter. I find that to be peaceful and reassuring, and I fall asleep early, before I get to Eternal for example. Last night I tried naming places I want to go, but got stuck and realized I am geographically challenged or at least do not care about going everywhere. Of course it doesn't work all the time, but occasionally I snooze off between letters. I know because I have waked up thinking Tuscany.

I suppose it is a way of counting sheep for us wordies.