Labor Day pains.

Last night, after spending the entire weekend eating until my pants no longer fit (worth it, by the way!), I felt as you'd expect: like crap. I was jittery from too much sugar and bloated from eating too much. I also felt out of sorts, not just because I had eaten too much, but because it was Labor Day: the infamous day-before-the-first-day-of-school.

As a child, I never liked the first day of school. It caused me an immense amount of anxiety and uneasiness. New people, new routine, new teacher, new homework, new everything. I would spend most of the day before worrying about what was going to happen the next day. Of course, it was incredibly counterproductive and I essentially wasted my last day of vacation agonizing about what was ahead. And usually, it was nothing that I couldn't handle and I'd get home from school after that first day feeling pretty foolish about what I'd done the day before.

But the following year, it would always happen again. The worst was always nighttime. I could distract myself during the day with other things, but as soon as it was bedtime, I was left to my own thoughts and drove myself insane with worry. I had stomachaches and headaches galore, and usually would only get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep that night. Which did not make for a very pleasant morning, as you can imagine. You'd think the thought of seeing all my friends again would put me at ease. But no.

So last night, as I tossed and turned from a weekend of overindulgence, it dawned on me that here it was, Labor Day, and I was cursed with insomnia again, just as in years past. It's funny how certain things awaken the same feelings you had years and years ago.

It was a comforting thing for me knowing that I would never have to have that kind of anxiety ever again. And as soon as I realized that, I was out like a light and slept for a good 7 1/2 hours.

My old school-age self would have loved to get that much sleep on Labor Day.