Member-only story
(Sleep) Walking My Dog in the Middle of the Night
Dream, Reality, or Both?
Like most normal people I have a nightly routine. Around 9 PM I take my dog, Silver, an 11 year old, 111 lb. Silver Labrador Retriever for her last walk of the day. Then I get ready for bed, wash my face, brush my teeth, do all the things that need to be done, and crawl under the covers by 10 PM. I usually scroll for about an hour, then read for another, and finally turn the light off by midnight.
Last night was no different, except I was unusually tired. I scrolled, and I remember picking up my book, but I don’t recall what I read. And I certainly don’t remember putting it down or turning off the light. But of course I must have because I was sleeping soundly and dreaming deeply.
Without warning and abruptly waking me from a heavy REM slumber I felt a wet nose nudging my arm and it was quickly followed by frantic licking on my hand. For some reason Silver was waking me up. I looked over at the clock — 3 AM. Not thinking clearly about the reason why she might be waking me I told her to go lay down. Annoyed, she turned on her paw and padded out of the room.
I was in that half-awake dream state and desperately just wanted to be asleep. But something was niggling in the back of my brain. It was not like Silver to wake me like that in the middle…
