The way I see it, SLEEP and DRUNKENESS are two first cousins.
If you are drunk or really tired and sleepy, you will eventually lose all sense of awareness and alertness.
Sadly, I can testify to that fact—ON BOTH COUNTS.
Yes siree Bob!
It was just last week Saturday, another day of rest and gladness. I left home with my wife to head off to Cotton Ground, to be part of an open air service, being held by our church.
That morning, we went to church and got home a bit late; ate lunch and before I could get a little Sabbath afternoon’s siesta, it was time to leave for Cotton Ground.
I felt sleepy but I was going anyway.
As I drove, my eyes started to feel heavy but I said not a word in English!
As we passed the famous Four Seasons Resort, SLEEP took over. I remember for a moment feeling at total peace with the world. That moment felt good!
I was rudely brought back to reality by my wife’s shout: ‘Curtis what are you doing?’
I came back to life in time to realize that I was heading straight for a black jeep, approaching from the opposite direction.
God allowed me to pull hard on the steering wheel, just in time to avert a direct head on collision.
Well I newa!
Embarrassed, I drove away from the area, recognizing that the other driver had come to a complete halt, obviously from real fright.
I stopped some distance away and took time to wash my face and feel a lot more refreshed, before I proceeded on my journey.
When I got to Cotton Ground, thankfully they had not started yet and I took that very important half an hour or so, to push back my seat and SLEEP.
When I awoke later, I was feeling like a new man. Totally alert and reinvigorated.
And so dear reader, if you were that other driver, on that eventful afternoon, when God performed yet another miracle in my life, I humbly apologize.
Now strangely, I would have had one similar bout with SLEEP in my lifetime before and that was many moons ago, when I was a mere teenager.
In another life, I was a Calypsonian and one night we had a Calypso tent at the St. George’s Old School building.
Once we would have sung, a dance session commenced. Never one for the dancing thing, I stuck around to listen to comments from the fans, about how much they liked the song etc. and later simply reclused in a corner and watched other people gyrating madly on the wooden floor.
Then, I started to feel real SLEEPY and decided to head home. I was not a drinker then and am not a drinker now. So, there was absolutely no form of alcohol in my system but I have seen people who are drunk, walking and what transpired between Market Shop and Fenton Hill on that night, was the exact replica of a drunken man scenario.
There were times when I found myself totally off the road and in the bushes. I had no general sense of direction but I was going home.
For those of you who know that old, upstairs and downstairs building at Fenton Hill, close to the Fenton Hill Church of God, that belonged to the Amory’s (maybe still does, but is now unoccupied), it looks very similar to my parents’ home, just around the corner at Fenton Hill.
It has a stone stairway to the front door; upstairs and downstairs and all!
Well, in my SLEEPY state, I could not have known the difference and I stumbled my way up those steps and started to attempt to open the people’s door.
Well I newa!
In 2018, you may have heard that I was arrested for attempted burglary or something.
I soon discovered the difference however, when a vicious looking dog, came at me and then I knew that it was the ‘wrong box ah match.’
I ‘tek head mek foot,’ as my grandmother used to say and skedaddled out of there.
Trust me, I was wide awake when I eventually got home!
As a Public Health Inspector, many moons ago, I remember a situation with one of my coworkers then, (who will remain unnamed for the purpose of this class), who, while heading home one night, fell asleep at the wheel and went straight into a stone wall at Brown Pasture. He awoke when the stones were falling on his vehicle and the tale goes that he got out of his vehicle shouting: ‘Who throwing stones on my car?
Well I newa!
The DRUNKENESS part, I will probably speak about next week, by God’s grace, especially for the benefit of new readers, as I plan to tell you about the one time that I got drunk in my life and reiterate that it is a necessity to stay away from alcoholic beverages IN ALL OF IT FORMS.
For now, it will not hurt to remind you dear readers and remind myself that this wonderfully created body of ours, which God loaned to us, needs to be carefully looked after and according to his manual (the bible), things like proper nutrition; exercise; water; sunlight; temperance (staying away from things that are bad for the body and not over indulging in even the things that are good), Air; Trust in God and yes, Rest, which involves adequate hours of SLEEP, are all key components to a healthy and long life.
And so I thank God for performing that miracle but by his grace, I will never drive when am SLEEPY again, even if I have to park up by the side of the road!
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?