Sleeping on Benches

One day it was a joke. The next it wasn’t. But maybe that’s a good thing. When I saw a man sleeping on a bench, he looked so peaceful in the afternoon sunshine I decided to follow suit. Of course I didn’t fall asleep, but I wished I could be so carefree. I actually felt rather ridiculous trying to emulate a serene public napper.

Oddly enough the next day it really happened to me. I lied down on a bench in the middle of the day and accidently fell asleep. My family was embarrassed but my grandparents sat at a bench across the way to guard me. It’s funny how when you’re truly relaxed or exhausted nothing else matters. I once almost lied down on the sidewalk in London and on some steps in Venice because I couldn’t walk any farther. I remember train trips in Europe where I would lie on top of my stuff so no one could take it and then fall asleep.

Bench sleeping has become a funny habit over the course of the month. Then again I have been sticking to the adage about doing one thing every day that scares me. Since the beginning of the year I’ve done so many things that have scared me that I’ve never felt so free and unsafe at once. This habit of challenging myself leaves me feeling like I’m floating and falling intermittently.

I know the world isn’t safe enough to make a habit of abandon, but it is a beautiful thing when our bodies overtake us, even when that just means falling asleep.