Now Sleep

 335.

I can see that she is tired. Our meal, including the lime gelato for desert, was about as good as dining at 40,000 feet while traveling over 500 mph can be. But the day, begun in Colorado, transiting through DC and now approaching Sacramento, CA, has taken a toll on both our reserve energy tanks.

"The seats tilt back to within a few degrees of horizontal, there are comforters and pillows in the overhead compartment, also, on the consul is a seat warming function so you can dial in your preferred napping temperature," I inform her using my best flight attendant's drone.

"No magic fingers?" She quips.

"I can order up some turbulence from the pilot, but other and that, nothing but the vibration from the twin Rolls-Royce turbos - and they are pretty smooth, sorry."

"Do you have a go-to power nap technique?" She asks reaching for the sleep aids.

"Absolutely. Regardless of time constraints, anything from twenty minutes to two hours, I first ensure my hydration. Second comes warmth, and third is spatial limitations. Once those are configured the actual technique I continue to perfect, mostly involves breathing and parking the runaway freight train," I offer, wanting to accurately answer her question, provide some context but not engage in an overly long exchange. "So deep breaths, relaxing every muscle group, finding the secondary level of calm, and then making an agreement that all abstract thought, the playback of review tapes, speculative analysis, strategic planning and mental notes taken during the day, are to be put on hold, shut down and turned off." Satisfied that I have thoroughly addressed her inquiry, I return the question: "You?"

"The only thing that I do different, or in addition to your very practical technique, is to find something, somewhere that will cause a spike in my happiness graph. Something that settles the need in my soul for meaning. It does my heart good to remember why we are doing what we do, and to affirm that we are surrounded by beauty," she tells me in a petite and poetic voice that I could listen to all night. She continues, "I respond to the balance, the yin-yang of the natural world, harmony, music, joy. When I am deprived of sleep my first response is to course correct and meditate on the values we hold so dear that we are willing to make extreme sacrifices to ensure. I find this so relaxing that, almost always I immediately drift off into a very restorative REM state."

"In a perfect world we wouldn't need to fight so hard and long to ensure that balance," I try, desperate to uphold my end of the waning conversation.

"It might be enough for us to simply have the mindset that if our efforts in this regard are perfect, that is enough. The world will never be perfect until all its inhabitants are."

"Amen sista."

I dim the overhead lights and begin the sequence of my power sleep routine. I am immediately met with a road block whose detour is manned by ghoulish Qanon radicals and Proud Boys whose mission statement is singularly to inflict physical pain on those that prefer peace to war.

My intent and my effort are pure. We will prevail.

Now sleep.