Benefits?

I’m trying to understand something. It’s nothing especially noteworthy but I found it a bit facinating anyway. I feel there’s no other way to bring it up but to simply jump right in. Feet first. Eyes open. Devil may care.

Why is it that we ladies love drinking our wine? I’m not talking only of North Americans. I’ve entertained females from Japan, for example, who twitter, smile widely and perk right up when asked if they’d like a glass of wine. At a ‘certain age’, EVERYbody reacts similarily at least in my circle of friends. Suddenly the whole room or the two or three gathered together become more relaxed. You can almost see the shoulders drop a notch as we get more comfortable and sink a little more deeply into the sofa or chair we’re in. All is well with the world. We are having a GOOD time. Something to nibble on doesn’t hurt either. Can’t drink more than one or two glasses because you have to drive home but that’s enough. Had  such a GREAT time.

Later that night, you sleep the sleep of innocent lambs. No bathroom treks. Just a good, sound sleep.

On another night you’ve had a glass of WATER too close to bedtime (even three / four hours beforehand) and you’re up every five minutes wearing a path to the john. All night long. You make your way in the dark with your eyes closed while praying for sleep to come if you could just not have this urge that doesn’t amount to a lot anyway but one you simply cannot ignore. If you could just fall asleep quickly, the urge might get buried in slumber but then, what if you dream you’re getting up…?

Another scenario is you go to bed after a PARTY (lots of wine that night) and sleep like the dead and never get up even once—until 3:00 AM—when you’re wide awake and the hope of getting back to sleep vanishes.

Also, why is it when you need to get up early the next morning for whatever reason, you manage NOT to have any water since suppertime, you don’t imbibe ANY wine and still you cannot get the sleep you so deserve. It starts all over again. Every ten minutes. Up and down and up and down again. There’s just no help for it. Could be nerves maybe? Anxiety about not sleeping in? Nah. What then? Can’t fall asleep on command and the harder you try, the harder it is but why the ‘urge’ then? Maybe it’s just my age?

Wait. Just a minute. I think I have the answer. Instead of soldiering on without water since supper or not imbibing at all, it seems to me a glass of wine is just what the doctor ordered. You’ll sleep like a baby and not mess it up by trotting up and down the hallway in the dark or taking a chance of wetting the bed.

It seems to me that’s why I like my wine. I feel there are indeed benefits I, for one, can’t ignore. It’s relaxes me. I’m refreshed from uninterrupted sleep. I’m not worn out from having to walk miles in the dark, listening to the floors creak and the house sigh as if they understood but they’re simply pitying me. I get my beauty sleep. I’m not grouchy.I don’t have to worry about a soggy bed. Am I wrong? What about you?

I’m now blissfully retired (meaning tucked ‘in bed’ as well as happily ‘no longer working’).