Napping Is Good For You

How wonderful to find out that napping is good for you. But then, I've always sensed that napping wasn't a negative activity. You can't annoy anyone when you're napping, let's start with that. When we were kids and napped in kindergarten, we got gold stars. There's your positive reinforcement right there. Take a nap, get a reward. Sweet. Of course, no one naps in kindergarten anymore. Budgets cuts and all that. Maybe in preschool, the teachers nap in shifts. "I'll power nap for five, while you read to them,  then you power nap, while I show them how to glue their mouths shut. Just kidding. Not really." The SJG never thought much about napping till I had my own little nappers. I relied on their daily naps. It was the only time I could get any work done. If they didn't nap, I got cranky. Naps were important in the SJG home. My mental state depended on the napping of others.  Personally, I haven't been much of a napper since kindergarten. Or so I thought. These days, I doze off without even trying. I make no announcement. It just happens. It's unplanned. All I have to do is sit down around 4 p.m., with a book in my hand, or a magazine, or a show I've recorded, and I'm out. Then my head snaps back and I wake up, stunned and disoriented and a little bit refreshed. I'm an accidental napper.  If you see me napping on a park bench, or on a sofa, or in a waiting room, give me a gentle nudge. And a gold star. And maybe a cookie and some juice. Thank you in advance.