Nighttime Rituals

At 11:15 p.m. I'm already 45 minutes 'late' for bed. It's important that I get 8-9 hours of sleep each night, or else I'm not as functional as I'd like to be the next day. Today was a long one, which turned into an even longer night. After work and a run, my family and I celebrated Titi Mildred's birthday. The time together was entertaining, as always. I really didn't mind getting home later than usual. What I mind is that I'm still awake. If I didn't have to do ALL the things I do before getting to sleep, I wouldn't still be up. Really, though, the things I MUST do before bed (besides washing up) are: get a cup of water to have on the night table, make sure the door is locked, the closets are closed and the shower curtain has been pulled open. Those are my nightly rituals. However, they shouldn't have me up til 11:15. Then I stopped to really think about WHY I'm still awake. Perhaps the phone call with my friend, Cathy, added to my 'late' night, or the straightening of my mane (a.k.a. my hair); maybe it was reading up on people's Facebook or my friend's blogs. All I know is that as I was straightening the shower curtain, I thought, "I do this every night...why?" In reality, my 'nighttime rituals' aren't SO important. They are funny to think about, if anything, but they are part of me...and my silliness...and I guess that's what makes them OK.