A funny thing happened while I was sleeping...

I'm a sleep talker. I can ramble and chit-chat the night away, ask anyone who has ever slept with me...wait, that sounds bad...I mean, who has ever slept in the same room as me (much better).

As a kid, I never had to share a room, so I didn't know just how bad my sleeping talking was. I knew I did it because whenever we went to visit my grandparents in another state, I shared a room with my grandma and she'd tell me about all my talking. But I thought maybe it just had something to do with being in a different state, in a different bed. I didn't think much of it.

It wasn't until I went off to college, lived in a dorm, and had a roommate that I found out just how bad it was. One morning I woke up to find all my roommates stuffed animals on my bed--like a dozen of them. I was like, "What the heck?" Karen had chucked her stuffed animals at me all night, trying to get me to shut-up.

Now I'm married, happily so for 18 years, and my dear husband puts up with my sleep talking, and my occasional sleep "getting up from bed and doing weird stuff" stuff. Yep, every once in awhile I can get part way down my hall before the realization that what is happening isn't really happening at all. Or I'll just stand next to the bed, which creeps him out, or I'll insist something is happening (which isn't) and force him to take part in it--look for a spider, help me search for a missing person, kill a snake. None of my siblings do this. Neither of my parents do this, though my dad has been known to talk a little bit while sleeping, but not often. Not to the extent like I do. I also have very weird dreams (very weird) which usually sparks the talking and the weirdness. So what the heck is this all about?

I don't know if I'll ever find out, but I'd like to believe it has something to do with being a creative kind of a person, a writer. Maybe it's my brain's way of keeping me from missing out on anything, just in case I could use it in a story--which I have, many many times.

Do any of you creative types do anything like this? Just curious to see if anyone else experiences brain overload and failure to shut down like I do. I'd love to hear about it, so I can feel less like a weirdo :)

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