Very Long Days

Sometimes, as was the case the other day, I have Very Long Days, or VLD's. Here's how those work.

When I have a night shift, I'll usually try and stay up until the wee hours of the morning the day before it, then sleep all day to prepare for the shift. Sometimes though I fall asleep early in the night, and then I can't sleep much past noon. This time, I woke up at noon on the fourth, then went off to work a 7 pm to 7am shift. I had call until 11am after the shift. Not usually a big deal since I can then get a little sleep before the drive home.

This time though, there was a transfer going out, and I got called back in to work after an hour of being off the clock. My relief came at 11 am, and I headed for home, well caffinated by sweet tea from Mickey D's. Upon my return to my domicile, I showered and hung out with the family a bit, since they are all just too cute to ignore for sleep!

Once the Sweet Pea was ready for her nap, I finally got to lie down. That was after being awake for twenty six hours. After a three hour nap, I got up again and we went to dinner at our favorite Mexican place with some of our favorite friends.

One thing I am slowly learning... I'm not quite as able to pull off VLD's as I was when I was younger. Back in my USMC days, we'd do 48 - 72 hour ops, sleep 8-10 hours then do it again. I held up pretty well back then. Sometimes I miss being twenty.

More Later