Insomnia at 40,000 Feet

Well, I am writing this on the long plane ride from Chicago to Adda Ababa. The good Mrs is snoozing next to me, but I have not slept a wink.

I tried, oh I tried. A few hours into the trip the flight crew darkened the windows and turned off the cabin lights, even though it was early afternoon. At least half the passengers were quickly asleep.

I have no idea how. I turned off my screens. I grabbed an eye mask. I put in some earplugs.

Nothing.

Finally, I considered taking a gabapentin (for pain, but it also makes one drowsy) and two Tylenol PM. I have never taken both on the same night before. But I really did not want to arrive in Africa with absolutely no sleep in the tank. So, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. I took both meds. And guess what happened.

Nothing.

I did not even get drowsy.

I wrote a blog post. I worked on some scripture memory. I pulled out my tablet and watched a movies. I listened to some music, And let me tell you, if John Michael Talbot doesn’t make you sleepy you may as well hang it up.

About the only thing I did not do is the one thing some of my church friends advised me to do: listen to my own sermons.

Did I mention that some of my friends are jerks?

I decide to sit back and watch the display in front of us that cycles between different screens showing maps and flight info. As I write this, the plane on the screen (which I’m pretty sure is not to scale) has now crossed the Meditarenan and is cruising over Egypt.

So only a couple more hours to go.

I imagine I will get sleepy right about the time we land.