By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff writer

When I was little, Papa would come home from work and take a nap in the evenings.

I couldn’t understand it.

There was too much to do – there were balls to throw, swings to push, woods to explore, a bow-and-arrow to shoot, and a sister to bother. How could he waste daylight taking a nap?

As often happens, I now appreciate my father’s wisdom.

Now, napping is not the same as sleeping half the day away. I do not like to lay a-bed all day, say until 8 a.m. or some such heathen hour. If I can’t enjoy a sunrise, I’ve already wasted a good part of the day.

How people can sleep until noon – or worse, consider sleeping a recreational activity – is beyond me.

But about three or so most every afternoon, the eyes tend to droop a little, and the fingers slow down. It’s all too often time for another cup of coffee, whereas I’d truly like a nap.

Naps come in a wide variety, most of which I can wholeheartedly recommend. The only exception to the rule is what I call a highway nap. Having done so at least twice, I cannot endorse the accidental naps taken whilst one is driving home at night.

I can, however, guarantee you that waking up driving down the opposite shoulder of the road is more enervating that any cup of coffee.

People often criticize Ronald Reagan for napping while he was president of the United States. I’d hasten to point out that welfare was down, the economy was up, and communism fell during his presidency. If the greatest leader this country ever had could do all that on an extra half-hour’s sleep of an afternoon, imagine what the rest of us could do with a few minutes of half-sleep.

Several successful companies recently made the news because they established nap lounges for their employees. I am not sure I’d feel comfortable about such a place, since I will never be a model for a mattress commercial. Even for a simple 15-minute nap, I don’t sleep pretty.

At various and sundry times, I’ve napped on riverbanks, boats, chairs, church pews, benches in courtrooms, graveyards, staircases, a barge on the Cape Fear River, and under innumerable trees in uncountable pleasantly shady groves.

I must admit I have purchased vehicles before with their “nap-ability” in mind, although I was more concerned with napping after the vehicle was parked, rather than the aforementioned highway naps.

Some places cry out for naps, and I feel it’s my duty to help such places fulfill their destinies. Sometimes the whole world can be brought back into perspective with a few minutes nodding off on a picnic bench near a riverbank, or a half-hour’s snooze with an ancient tree standing guard overhead.

In short, I think naps are, as Martha Stewart might put it, a good thing.

We too easily get caught up in the day-to-day hysteria of things that really, truly don’t matter.

As crisis builds on crisis, most of which we have brought on ourselves, we neglect things like common courtesy, smiles and naps.

We’ve been taught by television and the Internet and everything else that faster and more is better, and that if we don’t schedule our days in 10-minute increments, we’re somehow bad people.

I don’t buy it.

As I mentioned, Ronald Reagan napped. Gen. Douglas MacArthur napped. Aristotle napped. Some of the wealthiest nice people I’ve ever met nap on a regular basis, while the wealthy folks who are non-stop all the time are often grouchy, mean-spirited and generally unpleasant.

So please, take a few minutes this evening and take a nap.

I’m not saying it’ll make you wealthy, smart, erudite, or successful.

But you won’t really miss those few minutes without a computer, television, or other people.

Just find a quiet place and close your eyes and seek sweet nature’s balm, the yarn that knits the raveled sleeve of the day’s care (that line’s from Shakespeare, another napper).

Whatever is waiting for you will still be waiting for you when you wake up. I promise the world won’t end – and your whole day might even be better because of it.

Weaver is a staff writer at the News Reporter. He may be reached via e-mail at jeffweaver@newsreporter.biz, or via telephone at 642-4104, ext 227.