It is said (especially by mattress salesmen) that we spend a third of our life sleeping. Say what? For me, it's more like I spend a good third of my life trying to sleep.

It wasn't always that way. My mother claims that as a baby, I slept like a baby. And as a teenager and through college, like my peers, I needed a lot of sleep. I had a clock radio as an undergraduate, and the commercial I always woke up to is still in my head.

At three in the morning/when you're in bed
The Holsum bakers/are baking bread
And that is the reason/it tastes so good
Like oven-fresh Holsum bread should."

There was a period of interrupted sleep during my nursing mother years, and later, a lack of sleep when I was worried about our teenagers getting home safely.

My serious sleep deficit is pretty recent. It snuck up on me. Now I sleep lightly and wake in the middle of the night trying to problem solve about work or deal with some other issue. Alternatively, I wake up too early. But a solid night's sleep seems to elude me.

That's why when people asked me about my Labor Day weekend, I said it was terrific. We were visiting friends in the Berkshires, and we had perfect weather.

But most important, I slept ten hours on Saturday night.