Weve made the trip from the US to France before. Kaitlyns done it four times. And this fourth time has been whatever the opposite of a charm is. A curse, I suppose.
Jet lag is never easy. But normally when we arrive, shes got school the next day and I just make her get up and go and while her teacher and classmates may suffer for it, she turns her schedule around toute de suite. It works like, well, like a charm. I manage to stay awake unpacking, getting groceries, doing laundry. Sure, were in bed at 8pm, but thats not so bad. Not like this time.
This time around, Kaitlyn has managed to keep on California time. Late night California time to boot. Shes been waking up at 3am then napping all afternoon. Yesterday she fell asleep at 2. I managed to wake her up around 4 so we could go get a quick bunny tutorial for this weekends latest round of pet-sitting. Back home just after 5, she was back out on the couch I think before she even sat all the way down. And she was out. Cold. Dead to the world. Absolutely could not be awakened. Not for dinner. Not for Bill coming home. She woke up on her own around 9. And she was up. Wide awake. I stayed up with her (mostly to keep her from bothering Bill and because she kept pestering me)… until 9 this morning.
At some point in the middle of the night (2? 4? 5:30? 7????) I decided that there is an up side to this serious case of jet lag. There has to be. Heres what I came up with:
I now know that I can still pull an all-nighter other than when Im in an airplane. I didnt even drink any coffee to get it done. OK, I did eat a few spoons-full of whipped cream.
Being awake in the middle of the night means that you can lay around and accomplish absolutely nothing and not feel one bit of guilt about it. I was awake(ish) but I did not put in any laundry, unload the dishwasher, read (that would have put me right to sleep anyway), tidy up, clean. Nothing of the sort.
I got to Sling to programming worth watching. Well, maybe worth watching is a stretch. But I did get to just turn on HGTV and mindlessly watch whatever drivel was on. Normally when Im awake, HGTV is showing infomercials… because normally when Im awake its the middle of the night in LA. This time, I was awake during prime time. Alright, its a fairly lame benefit, but its still making the list.
Im out. Not another good thing about jet lag comes to mind. Its now 4 in the afternoon. I need to go make sure Kaitlyn hasnt slipped back into dreamland. I am starting to nod off at my desk… so its back to all those chores I didnt do in the middle of the night… because you cannot fall asleep while scrubbing the kitchen counters or picking up Polly Pocket crap. By the way… thanks to Bill who spread Kool Aid all over the counter tops while he did his part of the unpacking…. one of the packets opened in transit… and I could barely get the pink tint off the counter tops. Next time you spill Kool Aid I recommend you not leave it sitting. Even if you are jet lagged.