When We Used to Camp

You can find me at home these days, completing a crossword puzzle, reading a magazine, or snoozing. Snoozing is a wonderful thing that we don't experience often enough. It is different from sleeping, though.

Sleeping usually takes place in bed in a horizontal position. Dorothy sleeps a lot during her chemo weeks -- the buildup of drugs is dragging her down. I can sleep, too, for about 8 hours. Then, my body wants to get up and move.

Snoozing or cat napping happens spontaneously in any position. Our pillow-back living room furniture is very comfortable. One can put one's head back and be "asnooze" within seconds. It is not the furniture to choose when you want to read Tolstoy's War and Peace or a college textbook. It is good furniture for reading a short story or slogging through a crossword puzzle.

When we used to camp, before kids, Dorothy and I would bring our lounge chairs and a few good books. We would set the chairs in the middle of a clearing if it was cool or in the shade of towering pine trees if it was warm. We would read, fall asleep, read, fall asleep until it was time to make dinner.

Now that was a vacation. Happy snoozing!