I don't need graham crackers, I don't need milk. Just give me the nap.
It's high time our culture embraced the institutionalization of the nap. The siesta.
Imagine:
You get up early, while the air is still swimming in night-ness. You go about your day, picking up steam around nine or ten o'clock. You get into the feeling of the day. You produce, you create. Then, about three or four o'clock, all that focus starts to catch up with you. You slow down a little bit. Rather than being irritated by this, you're pleased. It's siesta time.
You go to your bedroom/designated nap room. You take off your clothes and have some room-temperature lemon water or tea. You enjoy being in the dim, with just a touch of late afternoon sunlight coloring the room. You enjoy being quiet, being where other people are not. You splash water on your face. You breathe. You lie down and everything feels soft. You relish the sheer pleasure of being horizontal, of having no pressure put upon your body. You let the day go, and before you realize it you have fallen into sleep, that strange, hard, mid-day sleep that is so good it can only last thirty or so minutes.
You wake up, and feel that your body is made of lead. It is a wonderful feeling. You start moving slowly, slowly. In a few minutes your heartbeat quickens and the events of the day come back to you. You begin thinking about what you've done, and the things you wish to still do before the day is over. You get dressed, down the rest of your beverage, and return to the world, renewed. Ready to finish tasks and then to enjoy an evening meal. You stay up just a little later and enjoy the night and the people in it just a little more because your body has been replenished.
Doesn't that sound great? It's very F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's romantic, and it's also healthy for your mind, body and spirit.
And, while I would prefer to take many of my siestas alone, one should not discount the luxury of a siesta taken with a lover that comes complete with mid-afternoon shag and post-shag snoozing. This is a lovely amendment to an already satisfying tradition.
We need to get on this train, I say. War? Pain? Cruelty? Nah, forget it. It's nap time.
