My Sloth Spirit

A combination of being bipolar and having nothing to  give me a normal sleep pattern has me up until 4 or 5 most mornings, and sleeping until about 1 in the afternoon. I don't particularly like it, but until I can get a job to regulate that, it's pretty much my life. I get a lot of reading done. But sometimes I struggle to even fall asleep then, and that's when times get really bad.

Because of my medications, taking something to fall asleep is tricky, plus I  don't like depending on a sleep aid. I'm allergic to something in NyQuil, diphenhydramine (aka Benadryl) works okay but I always feel like I sleep too long, and Tylenol PM gives me the most fucked up dreams ever. Plus, there's research to be done before taking anything to ensure there are no interactions with the prescriptions I take. Oh, and I don't have a medicine cabinet, so I don't want any more pill bottles and boxes floating around than I already have.

On her back, under the covers, like people

Enter Calypso. The cat who will spoon with me and let me put my arm around her and cuddle her like a stuffed animal. I'm probably the only person who could do that, by the way; anyone else would find their faces bitten and clawed off. She's a little... touchy. In any case, Calypso  can, with almost scientific accuracy, come cuddling up to me on any given night (or afternoon, or any time she damn well pleases) and almost instantly I am asleep. It's just her, other cats can't do this. Sometimes Eden will condescend  to lay with me at night, under the blankets, and I'm all tense, not wanting to bother her, not relaxed or sleepy at all. But no, Calypso just flops down (yes, she flops) with an air of "you sleep now" and I am powerless to defend myself. If I'm waiting to go somewhere, sometimes I have to shoo her away.

I was almost asleep last night when Eden decided it was annoying rambunctious play run time and scared the shit out of both of us and Calypso went to sleep in her favorite box instead.  She seems to know, though, when I'm having trouble sleeping. But if I ever need my faithful furry Sloth Spirit, she almost always comes to my call (never always, let's please remember, she is still a cat).

Sometimes suffocation helps you sleep too, right? Right?