I Must Be Getting Old

Staying out late on a weeknight has gotten to be too much for me. When I was younger I could do it (as I'm sure we all could). But not anymore. Last night was an open mic called Stagecoach Showcase. It used to be Five Star Friday which......imagine this.......was on a Friday night. However, the venue...Stagecoach Inn....wanted to get "real" bands in there on Friday and Saturday nights, so they bumped the open mic to Thursday. As you can imagine the name Five Star Friday wasn't going to work so well. And since the host for the evening was changing as well, they decided to change the name to Stagecoach Showcase. We haven't been there since it moved. Last night, however, was a special night. One of the guys who is popular on the open mic circuit, Ellis Ralph, is moving to Arkansas. He found the true love of his life at "guitar camp" last summer and since she's been offered a job in Arkansas, they decided to get hitched and moved out there. So the host of open mic, Gail Picard, thought it would be nice if we dedicated this week's open mic to him as a tribute to his contributions to live music. Many, many people showed up. And almost everyone had either written a song about Ellis or covered one of his original songs. It was a fun night and a great tribute to a wonderful guy. We left the open mic at midnight and got home around 1am. By the time we relaxed and unwound we didn't get to bed until 1:30ish. And of course I couldn't get right to sleep. Part of the reason for my insomnia has to do with what time of the month it is (does anyone else have that problem for that reason?). I've tried taking sleeping aids (ie. Tylenol PM) but all it does is give me nightmares. I hit upon taking ibuprofen and.....whether it's a placebo effect or it really helps.....I've gotten into the habit of taking some every night before bed. But..............when I went for my physical last year they found a trace of blood in my urine. After lots of test they ruled out any serious problems and kind of blew it off. Then when I went for my physical this year.......a trace of blood again. I googled it (what else would you do???) and found that too much ibuprofen can cause blood in your urine and serious kidney problems. Yikes! I decided to talk about it with the doctor when I went for my follow-up appointment next week. Then Hubby came home last week and said a guy collapsed at work and was vomiting blood. After being taken by ambulance to the hospital and tested for everything....they determined he had ruined his stomach lining by taking too much ibuprofen! Well that decided me. I haven't taken any since, even though I felt like crap today. I had some nice green tea and relaxed this afternoon and I don't feel too bad. So I don't know if the feeling like crap has to do with that monthly time, insomnia, or staying out too late. Probably all three mixed together (it might have been the couple glasses of wine too....who knows?) All I know is that 10 20 25 years ago I could stay up most of the night and still be bouncing the next day. I was not bouncing today.