Go away!

My retinas are sore. I lay awake at midnight staring at the ceiling wondering what's in the house to eat. I keep odd hours, sometimes waking up at 5 am and wondering if it's time to get up, other times sleeping well past 9 (that's way late for being a Dad of 4, for all you single people out there).

Sadly, I'm not suffering from some strange disease. It's way worse than that.

The...sun...won't...go...down!

And my body isn't going through it's natural ups and downs. It's just...up, until it crashes. I suppose. Because I haven't crashed yet. The worst of it all is the hunger. My metabolism doesn't start slowing down at nighttime; it's just staying revved up all day and night long. So I'm 16 again, wandering around the kitchen shoving meat and cheese and ramen noodles into my mouth to quench the hunger.

We rarely eat meat, but this last order of Fred Meyer we got hamburgers and ground turkey. Meatloaf, cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, refried beans...none of these is making the hunger go away.

And I'm sorry, Alaska, but this will be the only summer I spend with you. God willing.

The darkness over the winter is 10 times better. The moon shines brightly, reflecting off the snow. And you sleep marvelously, a deep sleep that can last 10-12 hours on weekends. You can look forward to the sun peaking up for a couple hours each day. In fact, winter's just flat out better than summer. Because mosquitoes can't put on Carhartts or down jackets, but I can.

It's a full month until June 21st, the summer solstice. Heavy curtains are in the mail!