I was driving to West Fargo with my friend Andrea in the front seat and Nine in the back when Nine looked out onto the snowy farmscape and said,

“Andrea, what is your least-favorite season?”

Andrea, who is both a very nice person on her own accord and is also someone who works with little children who are in need of developmental assistance so is doubly-nice, said,

“You know, I think all of the seasons are important.  For example, winter is nice because it gives the ground a chance to rest.”

“What a great point, “I said.  “Winter is a chance for everyone to rest.  That must be why the sun goes down at 5:00; it wants everyone to sleeeeep.”

“Mine’s summer,” Nine said, completely ignoring us.  “I don’t like being hot.”

“You love being hot,” I said to the child who has spent every minute of the year – including summer – in front of the fireplace.

“But I don’t like being hot OUTSIDE,” he said.

Anyways, winter is a chance for everyone to rest – except for North Dakotans, who seemingly take winter as a challenge to be busier than ever.  The reason Andrea, Nine, and I were driving to West Fargo at 8:30 in the morning was because our thirteen-year-olds were playing in a hockey game.  Did I mention it was a Sunday?  It was a Sunday.  Oh, and we were leaving an hour later than the dads and the Thirteens so that we moms could “sleep in.”

After the hockey game, I hustled Thirteen, Nine, and Kyle to the car.

“Let’s get a move on,” I said.  “I have a million things to do today.”

“There’s a Vikings game at noon,” Kyle said.

“And there’s a Vikings game at noon,” I said.  “So even more to do.”

On the drive back home, I laundry listed off my plan for the afternoon.

“Have lunch,” I said.

“Check,” Kyle said, holding up a Hardee’s bag.

“Put away laundry, hang the Christmas lights (UGH, I DECIDED TO HANG LIGHTS IN ALL OF OUR WINDOWS USING 3M HOOKS AND THEY KEEP FALLING DOWN AND IT’S DRIVING ME INSANE.  IF YOU DRIVE BY MY HOUSE YOU’D BETTER BE FRICKIN’ CHEERED OR MY INSANITY WILL HAVE BEEN FOR NAUGHT), start supper, work out (I’m still doing my three-mile walks; yay, me!), make chocolate chip cookies, find two outfits for North Dakota Nice, write my Wednesday story, and watch the Vikings game.”

“That’s too long of a list,” Kyle said.  “Why are you making chocolate chip cookies?”

“Because I want to eat chocolate chip cookies,” I said.

“I think you should shorten that list and take a nap,” Kyle said.

“I don’t nap,” I said.

“Okay,” Kyle said.

I don’t nap – at least, not on purpose.  This has been the case since I was a baby.  If a normal person said,

“Man, am I tired; I think I’ll go take a nap.”

They would go to a couch or a bed or some other cushy location, close their eyes, and sleep for a prescribed amount of time.  If I, on the other hand, said,

“Man, am I tired; I think I’ll go take a nap.”

I would lie down for 15 minutes, close my eyes for five of those minutes, and spend the next ten thinking about how I was not sleeping.  Then I’d sit on my phone for 15 minutes before getting up.

If, however, I said to you,

“Man, am I tired – but I definitely cannot take a nap right now.”

I’d be asleep in ten minutes.  I wouldn’t even need to lie down.  I could be at my desk at work.  I could be riding a bicycle.  I could be typing these wordssssszzzzzzz.  Something about requiring myself to stay awake makes me fall asleep.

No one knows this better than Kyle, who has watched me fall fast asleep in many-a inconvenient location, time, position, and facial expression.  I’m not a pretty sleeper; when my best friend falls asleep, for example, she curls up in a ball like a little fawn, her long eyelashes resting on her dark cheeks while sparkles and flower petals rain down from the ceiling.  I, in contrast, look like a troll under a bridge.  Kyle has to keep attractive pictures of me on his phone so that when he comes across me slung over the back of a chair, mouth wide open, snoring like Rip Van Winkle, he can open that photo and lay it across my face instead of divorcing me.

We got home for the second quarter of the Vikings game.  Kyle turned it on while I puttered around the kitchen.  Having finished my putter, I sat down on the couch.

“I’m going to watch to the half,” I said, stretching out, my head on a pillow.  “Then I’m going about my business.”

“Okay,” Kyle said.

Ninety minutes later, I woke up.  The Vikings had won, Kyle was long gone from his side of the couch, his cell phone was on my face (kidding), and the box of Christmas lights in the library were calling to me.  I shut my eyes.

Thirty minutes after that, I got up.  Even with my two-hour rest, I managed to get my list accomplished, including the cookies.  (Nine and I made the cookies – recipe here – and they were really easy and stayed soft for the two days it took to eat them all.)  At bedtime, I said to Kyle,

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep; I’m not tired after that nap.”

“Okay,” Kyle said…and then he probably said something else, but I had long drifted off to dreamland.

(P.S. – Happy Thanksgiving! I am very thankful for all of you lovely readers!)

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The photo above is what I look like on the aforementioned couch when I am awake.

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This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Guy Abernathey, my Nice Person of the Week, as well as a new way for moms to help moms. (Valley News Live)

In Grand Forks, six families have nine more faces to love. (Grand Forks Herald)

Want to help high school kids in need of basic necessities?  Click here. (Facebook)

Or, want to help teenagers fill their “forgotten” stockings? (Williston Herald)

My GOSH, Sam Dutcher is the cat of human beings (in that he has nine lives). (Fargo Forum)

The Minot community has reached out to give area seniors a happy Christmas. (Minot Daily News)

Grand Forks is looking for donations to start a “New Start Nook” for those transitioning out of homelessness. (Fargo Forum – found from “Oops Only Good News”)

Minot’s Don and Nancy Carter are about to transition into their December alter egos. (Minot Daily News)

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