The 3:00am Date

Tonight I begin my round of graveyard shifts at work. For me that means four nights in a row of zero sleep. From 10:00pm to 6:30am I will be required to be awake, alert, and able to take full care of my many patients. This is only my second set of NOCs ever, and its safe to say i'm a little nervous. Switching routine alertness from daytime to nighttime is a rough thing, and the body sometimes doesn't handle the transition very smoothly. My mom has worked night shifts as an RN for over 20 years, honestly I just don't know how she does it. My last time, the first night was the hardest because I didn't know how to prepare as far as getting adequate sleep ahead of time. The following nights I was good to go: awake at night, sleep during the day, repeat x 4. This time I just really needed to try something new to prepare for the first night, but I wasn't quite sure what to do.

Here's where Matt comes in. Earlier this week he devised a plan to jump start me into my night shifts: And so begins the story of the 3am date. 

I woke up naturally at 2:40, checked my phone, and decided I was too excited to go back to sleep for the last 20 minutes. It was almost time for our date!

It all started out at Smith's for some goodie shopping. But not before Matty took a little ride at in the Smith's parking lot. Hahaha I just can't get over how happy he looks. Believe it or not, we weren't the only ones there. We were accompanied by many stockers and even a few other customers! Crazy college kids with their crazy hours.

And then off we went to Y Mountain. Whats a little bit of hiking in the dark (wondering when the boogie (boogey?... I mean the scary one, not the one made out of snot) monster or sasquatch is going to come flying around the corner at you) and selfie taking at 4:00am? NBD! 

We enjoyed looking out over the sleeping valley and eating hi-chews for a little while before heading back on down. We also discovered that the body is tired at that time of morning! And sometimes the giggles take over as a result. Well, at least most of the giggling came from me :)

Afterward we hit up Walmart and found me this wonderfully cushy little sleeping eye cover for my daytime naps over the course of the next several days. Should be interesting seeing how this works out!

Meanwhile Matt found this, which ended up being unexpectedly hilarious. Again, there's a slight chance the giggles might have been a result of the fatigue. But come on, that is freaky right? 

This is the part where little Jannette got tired. Too tired. Nothing a little car dance party couldn't fix. Cue: All About That Bass. Thank you Maghan Trainor for such a dance worthy song to re-fire me up and get me groovin' (yes, I did just say groovin').

Finally, it was sunrise time. We found ourselves a good view of the mountains, parked the car, and relaxed on the hood while we watched the clouds change colors and morning light gradually spread over the valley. It was beautiful, and fun watching the new day begin as we chatted and cuddled.

We did it. We made it to sunrise. Aaaaand now we're done.

We rounded out our morning with a delicious breakfast from Einstein bagels and the season 5 finale of Boy Meets World. 

What a winner of a date this was. With such a winner of a guy. I'm still nervous about my shifts tonight, but a lot less so because of what this cute kid did for me today. I don't think I could have kept myself awake for so long by myself this morning, and he was such a champ at keeping us busy and moving and occupied so that i'd tire myself out and be able to sleep later. He certainly was under no obligation to sacrifice his own sleep to wake up at such a crazy hour of the morning with me, but he did it. And shoot dang did we have fun!
I'll tell ya what folks, it was the best 3am date I have ever been on :)