I go through different spurts with sleep.  Not quite sure what the problems are, but they range from not being able to sleep at all, to having very bizarre and realistic dreams.  I’ll never forget during GW Bush campaign for president #1, I woke up in the middle of the night coughing and coughing and felt like I was going to throw up.  My husband asked what was wrong and I declared that “they are making me swallow the republican blanket.”  Oh how true that ended up being for 8 years.  Since then I have had a variety of strange dreams that seem quite real to me.  A few nights ago I swore that someone broke my fingers in the night and I woke up screaming about it to my husband.  My fear is that I am developing the same disorder that my mother has.  We find it difficult to sleep in the same house with her because she screams and yells at people all through the night.  One night recently my father woke up to see her sitting on the edge of the bed one minute and then jumping off the bed onto the floor the next.  My dad also tells the story about how one night it seemed as if she might actually start hitting him.  No sooner than he had the thought than she started trying to hit him.  This American Life had an episode a while back called Fear of Sleep.  People discusses all types of issues with bedbugs, roaches and other things that people generally don’t want to think about.  In this episode, Mike Birbiglia tells of his sleepwalking and sleep problems cut from his one man show “Sleepwalk with Me“.  I laugh so hard I cry when I listen to this.  If you have some time in the recent weeks to listen for free on your computer, please do.  This is funny stuff.  I hope I don’t end up needing a sleepingbag some day.