Somniloquy - sleep talking; uttering speech while asleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, it is a sleeping disorder that affects 1 in 5 people. It's easy to brush these statistics aside because they'll never really happen to us right? Wrong.
It was a very emotional day for Jaimie yesterday for a number of reasons. For starters, she turned the whopping 22. On top of that she successfully finished her university coursework and is now one generic tearful send-off speech and an awkward handshake away from a college degree. Lastly, to make matters worse, she had to deal with a very confused Utah forecast as we had rain, snow, and more rain for the past few days. It's no wonder that after a fun-filled evening out with some friends to celebrate, she couldn't wait for her head to hit her pillow.
Fast forward to shortly after two o'clock in the morning. I was jolted awake by the sound of a stern voice in our dark bedroom. Waiting for my eyes to adjust, I tried desperately to figure out where the voice was coming from. It wasn't until I heard it again that I discovered I was sleeping next to the "one in five" statistic.
Sleep talking can involve complicated dialogues or monologues or complete mumbling and gibberish; but for Jaimie it has a different meaning. What I heard last night amazed me. She must have started on her topic long before I awoke, because after a short pause while I searched the dark room for the mystery voice, Jaimie started into an excellent second grade lesson. Without skipping a beat she explained the solar system, including the different laws or gravity you would find on each planet. From there my midnight homeschooling went into a guided reading exercise in which I was instructed to speak up and sound out each letter of a word instead of merely guessing how it was pronounced. Finally, the cherry on top moment happened when she stopped mid-sentence and said, "Do you have a question? Raise your hand please!"
After I listened patiently for about ten minutes of her lesson, and knowing recess was probably not for another 45 minutes, I decided to see if I could wake her up. Upon waking, she sleepily asked what I wanted and when I told her she had been talking in her sleep she accused me of lying and rolled over.
Apparently, for most people it's supposed to be short-lived and rare. But something tells me I might need to brush up on my solar system geography tonight because there might be a pop-quiz.
2 comments:
hahaha. Funny stuff. Sean, you better get to know those planets!
This is great. You should have her learn accounting so she can teach you accounting while she sleeps as well. Save yourself some time in the future.
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