The Breasted One

Last weekend we had a long holiday weekend so we made a visit to Istanbul.  When in Turkey, I drink tea - and lots of it.  There is no need for coffee every morning. However, there was one afternoon I was out and really missing it.

I walked into the nearest Starbucks, and proceeded to order my beloved soy cappuccino. When I lived there, I quickly learned that they do not always understand Pam.  I often end up being Pem, or Pembe, which means "pink".  

I eventually resorted to Pamela.  After saying Pamela three times, the barista just gave up and passed me the cup and pen.  Turkish is a phonetic language, and I think Pamela is pretty phonetic.  Instead of writing my name, I said to him, "You know Pamela Anderson? The same name as hers". 

I knew it was not my Turkish because the guy in line behind me laughed and complimented my point of reference.  When I lived there I resorted to Pamela Anderson for the occasional pizza delivery, and it worked every time.

The barista nodded his head with that "Ah ok" nod and proceeded to write on the cup.  A few seconds later, I got my beloved coffee and checked the name.  It looks somewhat like Memeler, or Memele.  Meme in Turkish means breast. Put "le" on the end of a word and it means "with". I am not sure if he is going for "breasts" or "with breasts" here.  

I get a lot of random names on my Starbucks coffee in Dubai.  It is very rare that my name is understood, even in English. I think this is the funniest one yet.

Sleep is Overrated

Sleep is overrated.  I am not sure when I decided - or convinced myself of this.  Perhaps it started a couple of years ago when my son was first diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  For sure I didn’t sleep much.  I was constantly worried about his blood sugar dropping in the middle of the night after we started him on an insulin pump.  Fortunately, we’ve passed that stage and all is good.

It was during that visit to the US that I rekindled my relationship with Starbucks and coffee in general.  In those days, the car should have had a Breathalyzer device on it to test if I had enough caffeine in my system to operate heavy machinery.  Starbucks isn’t the come all end all of coffee, but there is a lot to be said about purchasing a muy grande, quadruple shot, larger than life caffeinated beverage from the convenience of your car.  

Try as I might to sleep late, I still wake up around the same general time every morning – 6:00 or 6:30 – with no alarm clock.  Even though I typically sleep late – midnight or so, I am still up early.  And lately it seems to be earlier thanks to the 5:00am-ish sunrises.  If I miss my biological wake-up call my son wakes me up anyway.

Last night was a very sleepless night with vomiting, fever and all the symptoms that make for a very awful time for a child.  We have the added value of the diabetic issues that come with this.  It is manageable now that we know what we are doing.  And much to my surprise, I can sometimes manage this without the need for a hospital.  It’s not fun by any means – injections and all, but it is better than watching a not quite expert nurse dig around in your child’s arm to find a vein, or watch an inexperienced ER doctor look in a medical handbook to quickly learn how to manage the situation.  

My husband often tries to encourage me to go back to sleep on such days.  As exhausted as I am, I usually don’t.  Or as I did this morning, I try, but it is constantly interrupted sleep, which leaves me even more tired. 

So why not go back to sleep?  We all need sleep.  Yes.  It is hard to run a long time on little sleep, but as I always say, Mommy is a super power. I once read somewhere that you will never know how little sleep you need until you become a mother.  There is more truth in that statement than most things I have read.

As tired as I am, I would miss so much if I slept.  I would not get that 15 – 30 minute window of quiet time alone, would not be able to sit with a cat begging for attention, the occasional half finished yoga, read, write, catch up on some photography work or enjoy that desperately needed cup of coffee. 

Most importantly, I would not get to sit and have breakfast with my son and savor his way of seeing the world.  And on a day like today, it was so worth it.  He walked over to me and gave me the biggest “morning hug” as he called it for no reason.

Please pass another muy grande mega shot.