Overachiever?

So I've been having trouble sleeping lately. Actually, that would be an understatement. I've been going days without sleeping plus having migraines, both of which are triggers of sorts for sleepwalking. Though to call what I do 'sleepwalking' seems something akin to calling what Michelangelo did 'doodling'. I seem to go all out. When I do mercifully doze off, I've been waking up in strange places like outside on the porch or sitting up on the edge of the bed, both of which are remarkably uncomfortable. Particularly as the temperature outside drops into the 40s. I also do lots of weird things. But today was a doozy.


My parents left around 10:45 for a doctors appointment, and as I hadn't slept at all last night, I was exhausted and decided to lay down for a nap. In my PJs, in my bed, in my room. I guess I fell asleep pretty quickly. Because it seems I got a lot done while they were away. When they returned a while ago, it was to an odd scene. I'm sure it was weird for them, but it was incredibly disturbing for me, so I'll be telling this story from my perspective.

So I went to bed. In my room. Next thing I know, someone is touching me, I open my eyes to find my mom and Miss B staring at me and I am for some reason terrified and I scream. Blood-curdling, spine-chilling, afraid for my life type scream. And I realize that I'm in my parents' bed, where I'd apparently been sleeping soundly. I jump off the bed crying, still afraid for some reason of my mom and Miss B, and start trying to figure out what is going on. I realize that my hair is in pigtails. The high up kind that even kindergarteners reject as dorky these days. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and am startled for a moment.  I look ridiculous. In addition to the pigtails, my look includes full makeup. I've gone for smoldering eyes, with heavy dark eyeshadow I have never been able to pull off conscious.  I can tell I have on powder and bronzer and several shades of lipstick. I'm still wearing my pajamas, but have put a dressy shirt on over them. I look like a Halloween costume gone very much awry.  When I step into my bathroom to further survey the damage, there is evidence of my makeover everywhere. Makeup is all over the floor, cosmetics cover the counter. For some strange reason there is a dinosaur (my nephew's toy) perched on the rim of the toilet seat. It literally looked as if he were taking a jurassic leak. Equally inexplicable were the three loaves of unopened bread, lying in a row in the middle of the living room floor. There were no other signs that I'd been in the front of the house at all.

It is hard to describe how creepy and disturbing it is to go to sleep and not know what you will do, where you will go while you are sleeping. Feels a little like being possessed. Besides being completely exhausting, it is a little scary. Just last week, during an afternoon nap, I went for a stroll in the back yard (thank God for privacy fences)in a T-shirt and panties, then came in and began to change into my swimsuit for a swim in our partly empty, wholly green and swampy pool. That time I was saved because Miss B saw me come walking in with the vacant look in my eyes and she woke me up as I was pulling on my suit. What if she hadn't been there? Would I have gotten in that pool? You'd have to see the pool to truly appreciate how horrifying that thought is. I'd probably STILL be in the shower. Man, what I wouldn't give for one whole, long night of normal, uninterrupted sleep.