Being Tired

Being Tired

Have you ever been so tired that just keeping your eyes open during the day is a chore? I was trying to add a list of 12 numbers today and it took six times before I ended up with the correct amount. I found myself nodding off in the middle and couldn’t keep track of where I was in the list.

Many years ago, before Keith and I married, I worked an extra job as the weekend, night-time PBX operator at the Marriott Hotel. For approximately one year I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 11:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. My responsibilities would have been considered easy if I hadn’t been half asleep through many of them. I worked a full-time job at the same time as an administrative assistant at a bank, so on Friday I left the bank at 5:00 to spend time at home with my oldest child, Tim. Tim was four years old at the time and it was important for me to have a second job that would not keep me away from him any more than necessary. Tim would go to bed at 10:00 p.m. and I left at 10:30. I worked over night answering phones, “Thank you for calling the Omaha Marriott, this is Sherri, how may I direct your call?”, making wake-up calls, “Good morning! The time is 7:35 a.m. The weather today will be sunny and warm with a high of 89 and a low of 68.”, and completing credit card transactions. Every other Saturday I worked at the bank at 8:00 a.m., so I would leave the hotel and go straight to work. My parents and sisters helped by watching Tim until I got home at noon. Saturday and Sunday nights would be more of the same, except I would try to take short naps because when Sunday’s shift would end, I was in for a full day at the bank again. Looking back, I really don’t know how I did it, except that I needed to. I needed the money.

Nights in a nice hotel are interesting. Back then Aksarben held concerts and all the celebrities stayed there. Lincoln’s hotels were a bit scarce so even teams playing against the Huskers slept at the Marriott. One heavy-metal rock band caused quite a stir when their fans tried climbing up the building to get to them and some of the band members were caught in compromising positions in the bushes surrounding the parking lot and a few in the elevators.

The toughest part of the job for me was trying to concentrate while completing the credit card slips. I would doze off and enter into deep-sleep dreams for 5-8 minutes and wake feeling completely disoriented. I had very odd dreams that often rolled over into real life. One early morning I dreamt that someone died and I was at the mortuary purchasing a burial…ceremony and all. When I woke, the credit card slip that should have read “2 days weekend rate……68.00; 4 local phone calls……$18.50” instead read: “Gold Casket with Brass handles……$365.00; plot…….$425.00; service…$289.00”; etc. I panicked wondering what the gentleman staying in room 520 would think when he saw his credit card receipt. It took a long time, but I was able to scratch it all over with a pen and added a short note apologizing for my messiness!

One weekend, I met Lou Rawls, a wonderful, classy man who had a voice like silk. Lou, as he insisted I call him, suffered from insomnia so he would call several times during the night to talk. He was very kind and very much appreciated that I would listen to his stories about being on the road and missing his family. I enjoyed hearing about his life and the communication helped keep me alert and focused. At the end of his stay he surprised me with a gift from the kitchen, breakfast on him, anything I wanted to eat and a lovely thank you card. He died recently and I think now that he is at Home, I am sure he is sleeping very well indeed!

I often wonder if I could have stayed up all night with Jesus, when he, too, was thinking of going Home and I’m sure, missing his family. Would I have been prepared to keep my eyelids ajar or would I have nodded off with the Disciples? Was there caffeine available? I know Jesus had the ability to keep them awake, but maybe He wanted them to realize on their own that He needed them. If it was yet another test, they failed. Keith often calls them “Duh-ciples” because they didn’t catch on with lightening speed and often messed up. In my young days, when sleep depravation didn’t apply because I was young and energetic, I couldn’t understand how they could fall asleep like that, in the middle of nowhere, amidst the rocks and bugs, without pillows and blankets, and at a time when their friend really needed them. Now that I am older, busier and less energetic, I have experienced first hand how hard it is to keep my eyes open when the rest of my body is ready to shut down. I couldn't even stay awake when I was being paid to do it! Maybe I would have made a good “Duh-ciple”! Then again, I wonder why they didn’t work harder to keep each other awake. Didn’t they question why Jesus insisted they stay awake? He had gone off to pray many other times without this request. Weren’t they curious at all? Wasn’t one of them an insomniac with the need to talk?

One day I will sleep in the Lord, so while here on earth I want to be awake with Him. I would rather be tired than lost! There will be plenty of time to catch up on lost zzzzs. My reward will be a lot better than breakfast, it will be an eternity of feasting!