Published August 30, 2024

It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. I’m wide awake. WIDE.

Since January 2021, my work shift has been 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., requiring me to be at peak alertness by 5 and for hours afterward. That is, until 18 days ago. That’s when I switched to a temporary assignment that has radically shifted my schedule. Since then, I’ve started at 7, 7:30, 9, 9:30 and 10 a.m., and noon. I’ve worked a handful of hours after 5 in the afternoon.

What has happened is I have gone straight to bed after work, and I wake up at 10 or 11 p.m., or 2 a.m., and can’t fall back asleep. So I am tired halfway through my shifts, during hours when, for more than three years, I would have been sleeping.

So, you see, it’s a problem.

But it’s given me an excuse to share that brilliant cartoon with you. Years ago I found the cartoonist online, a lovely man who gave me permission to post it (and one other) on my blog. I didn’t, though, because it’s perfect as it is. What could I possibly add to it?

L.J. Kopf is also a longtime jazz DJ, and that’s how I tracked him down, with the help of David Beckett, another jolly good fellow. What is there to say but good things about jazz lovers and cartoonists who are jazz DJs and children’s librarians in Vermont?

I love how Kopf’s mind works.

Boy howdy, would I like to have more options regarding my dreams.

Sometimes I wish I could close my eyes more. Not more often. More closed.

But closed is as closed as closed gets. And I continue to not sleep.

Wish me luck. I am struggling with these changes.

Love,

Carly