Or maybe I should have entitled this post: I am My Father's Daughter.
At any rate, I've been thinking about how easy it is to follow in the footsteps of our parents. As a PK, I saw so many heartbreaking examples of this. Abused children who grew up to be the abusers or the abused in their adult relationships, for example. Or generations living with (un)treated mental illness due to the religious stigma of admitting that one needs help for depression or anxiety or other issues.
And then there are the wholly benign examples of this phenomenon.
Dad and I are both apt to overreact when sleeping. Maybe hyper-aware is a better term? One moment we're sound asleep, the next we've been bolted awake by an unexpected noise or bad dream.
A few nights ago, Drew had the misfortune of sneezing in his sleep. I do not remember any of this anecdote, but he tells me that as soon as I heard the sneeze I bolted up from my slumber saying something akin to "what's wrong?" or "what's going on?"
Something was terribly wrong in our universe of pillows and half-twisted sheets. I needed to ferret out the answer, and fast.
"Don't worry, I just sneezed," he said. "Go back to sleep."
Satisfied, I laid back down and remembered nothing in the morning. It's a good thing I have a Drew to do that for me.
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4 comments:
Ha! It's funny the things we inherit from our family, isn't it :) I always thought it was interesting that there are so many writers among the Schoch clan (even extending three generations). And my mom, Aunt Rita, Aunt Carol and I all have the same birthmark in the same spot on the same leg. A little Twilight Zone, no? :)
I do that all the time! I always think someones breaking in:)
I was listening to This American Life and there was this story of this guy who's brain did not secrete the right levels of dopamine(?) when sleeping. This chemical is the one responsible for making you not be able to move while dreaming. Anyhow, he would do all the stuff in his dreams sometimes. He told a story when he was at La Quinta Inn and jumped out of a 2nd story window and started running across the lawn in his under pants.
I didn't know that you shared a birthmark with your mom and two of our aunts, Amanda. Cool.
Laura, I'm glad I"m not the only one who does that!
I've heard similar stories, Incognitough.
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