essentia ls

The "Huggy" Diamond earring is this season's
hottest jewelry fashion essential.

To Sleep, Perchance
•• Or Maybe Not

Tapper's has an extensive collection to choose
from, in yellow or white 14K Gold and
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As always, our commitment
to quality, prompt-courteous
service and hassle-free
returns assures your
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ERICA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

M

Diamonds
and Fine jewelry

Orchard Mall V West Bloomfield
Orchard Lake Road at Maple Road
810-932-7700 or 1-800-337-GIFT

Hours: Mon.,Tue.,Wed.,Fri. & Sat.10 am to 5:45 pm V Thurs. 10 am to 8:45 pm ♦ Closed Sunday ♦ Photos enlarged

The Jewish Community Center
invites you to spend

ING BREAK

BIG RED

WORLD!

97

You

THE DE TROI T J EWISH NEWS

• Airfare
• 4 Nights Hotel
• 3 Night Baha

18

rgp.k Vacaf
• T T n%]ite

des:
ssport to the Parks

8

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Price statti

tir children

FREE FAMILY FUN DAY TO LEARN

MORE ABOUT THIS TRIP...

Games • Prizes • Videos • Food
Sunday, October 13th, 3:00 p.m.

AMERICAN

JCC - Maple/Drake
Shiffman Hall
R.S.V.P. by October 10th 810-661-7637

EXPRESS

Travel

y husband and I each
have a different ap-
proach to insomnia. He
sleeps through it.
Warm or chilly, fretful or not,
he falls asleep in minutes and
sleeps until "Morning Edition"
blurts from the clock radio.
Some nights he is busier in his
sleep (confiscating covers, mak-
ing symphonic noises, etc.) than
others; but he always sleeps
soundly, like someone who is
getting paid for the privilege.
Boy, could I tell him a few
things about the wee small
hours of the morning.
In all fairness, he has urged
me to wake him up if I am sleep-
less, and that is wise and kind
counsel. He can put most of my
nocturnal worries to rest with a
word or two; and when he's
done, he falls right back to sleep.
And so do I. But most of the
time, I can't bring myself to
wake him up.
The theory that we should
muster one functioning adult
between the two of us means
one of us should get some sleep.
And I don't have bad insomnia.
I'm not awake every night, pac-
ing in despair, beset by night
demons. Most nights, I do sleep;
and when I'm awake, usually,
I'm reading novels and thinking
chocolate milk. I'm just awake
when the rest of the house is
sleeping.
The insomnia I get is induced
several ways.
There is Napped-Too-Long-
On-Shabbat insomnia, in which
I have simply gotten all the
sleep I could get in the course of
a long, lovely Saturday after-
noon and am up in the night.
Unfortunately, I'm not just
wakeful; I'm fully rested, ready
for a new day, in 6:30 a.m. mode
at 4:30 a.m. On a good Sunday
morning, this means that by the
time the family is ready to get
up, I've read the entire news-
paper, cooked breakfast, eaten
breakfast and cultivated the ul-
timate desire to go back to sleep.
Sometimes, they even let me.
There is Spousal-Cover-
Snitch insomnia, in which I
wake up with cold feet. The
cure, after snitching back the
blankets, is thick socks and hot
tea, neither of which is available
without getting up. And once
I'm up....
There is Alien-Invasion in-
somnia, in which I wake to find
a small child in my bed. "Hi,
Mom, I couldn't sleep," he'll say,
flopping down beside me, tak-
ing half my pillow, cuddling up
sweetly, and sleeping instantly,

leaving me wide awake with his
razor-sharp elbow poking my
side. Sometimes it is possible to
move him back to his own bed
without waking him up, but
sometimes it is not. In desper-
ate situations, I have even been
known to go back to sleep in his
bed myself, waking up hours
later, slightly disoriented, sur-
rounded by red, green and blue
dinosaurs.
My most frequent insomnia
is Worry-And-Fret, in which I
come to consciousness with
some concern niggling at my
nightbrain and refusing to go
away. I have learned to keep my
calendar book by the bed be-
cause I can usually write my
way through this one without
even getting up. This insomnia
calls for list making. I jot down
a series of chores to do and calls
to make that will dissolve the
worry of the moment. The sim-
ple act of breaking matters
down to step by step actions lets

I have even been
known to go back to
sleep in my little
boy's bed.

me go back to sleep. And if the
list turns out to be totally unre-
alistic in the cold light of day —
which it usually does — so
what, at least I got some sleep.
The worst is Sudden-Cata-
strophe insomnia, induced by
finding one of my daughters —
usually the oldest one because
my middle child could and did
sleep through a hurricane —
standing by my bed making dire
announcements. In a voice a
network newscaster would
envy, she'll proclaim, "Mom, he
got sick on my rug" (an invita-
tion to nocturnal scrubbing
which can refer to the dog, the
cat or the little brother).
If she is, indeed, referring to
the little brother, this is also a
case of "Doctor-Doctor" insom-
nia, in which I leap into mater-
nal action and take some small
person's temperature. The po-
tential patient receives a sooth-
ing washcloth (warm or cold, as
called for), a small glass of gin-
ger ale and a kiddy-size fever
tablet.
This is the mom-equivalent
of "take two aspirin and call me
in the morning," but, alas, morn-
ing is already here. El

