chasing sleep

So much for sleep. I slept solid for three hours and then found myself wide awake at 2am. After an hour I slipped out of the cabin and am camped out in the mid-ship lounge for some 3am blogging. I'll be honest, I was sort of hoping to catch Peleke online, though I don't think he is able to chat these days. It's funny, though, we have some sort of mind meld going on where we're pretty good about knowing when the other person is online. It would be creepy if it wasn't so helpful! My mom seems to have that sixth sense about me too.

It wasn't surprising to see that Peleke had emailed me half an hour into my tossing and turning. It's so good to hear from him. While I'm pretty ok with my bags being gone (it's kind of liberating actually), I will admit I almost cry when I think about his t-shirts in the bags that I had brought for pajamas. I know they're just things, but they're his things, and it's nice to having something tangible to make you feel closer to someone. Oh well, streeeetttttcccchhhh and grow. Think I'll be doing a lot of that.

I was feeling pretty emotional before I left for Benin, though I feel like things are beginning to even out a little bit. With the start of work this week and the sleep change catching up to me, I'm sure there will be another wave of emotionality, but I think it'll be fine. When I told my parents last week, I was trying to figure out if it was maybe related to the malaria prophylaxis I'm taking (noted for causing depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping in a laundry list of other complaints). My dad said, "Wenikio, in the past six months you have quit your job, moved 3000 miles from Seattle, gotten married, given up your dog (temporarily), had your new husband deployed overseas, and travelled to Africa to work with a desperately needy population. I don't think it's the Lariam*." He has a point. So we'll see.

Talked briefly with my mom today on Facebook. It seems they had a big thunder storm the other night that literally scared the poop out of The Beast before she hopped into bed and buried herself between my parents. Dad apparently gave her the boot when he got the infamous paw in the face while sleeping.

I'm working on pictures, but my cable to link the camera to the computer was in the bag. I need to track one down.

* I know, right? Freaky stuff!