When we first moved into this house on Washington Ave there was an older lady who shared our chain -linked fence.
I don’t remember much as I was busy beginning this forever fix up the house thing and having kids.
I do remember our old dog having to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
I’d let the dog out sometimes at what seemed to be the absurd hour of 2 or 3 am.
You would think that this would be a silence of the mouse type of time.
Pitch black and quiet except for the old lady who I’ll call Helen.
Someone ...perhaps a relative or family friend had placed a motion light sensor in her backyard..
maybe to deter pests or a burglar.
It was so bright and blinding …it seemed a light that was a center for a stage production.
Many nights that I would end up letting the dog out I would see Helen.
In her sleepwear, methodically pacing back and forth walking in a trance like state.
This continued nightly for about a year.
Helen and sleepwalking disappeared.
The house went up for sale and I never really knew enough to figure what happened.
I assumed that the night walking was normal for her.
Insomnia can be a struggle for everyone.
Rhythms and cycles and age play a discord on our ability to remain asleep.
According to the experts, there is onset insomnia which means trouble falling asleep as well as
sleep maintenance insomnia which just means the inability to remain asleep throughout the night.
I would imagine Helen had a sleep maintenance issue.
Now that I look back I understand a bit more about the struggle with sleep maintenance.
I have my moments usually once a month of waking up past a midnight hour with my mind racing.
In the future, I’ll be creeping up towards a half a century.
I, too may do the walking back and forth, and pacing at an unseen hour..
At least now those unforgivable motion flood lights are no longer in.
Perhaps they will invent LED sleepwear where it lights you up automatically.
A sleepwalkers special that makes you visible to the night.