Early This Morning, I Got That Old Familiar Feeling

Not realizing I was asleep until I started dreaming? That cotton-mouthed sensation that strikes about 4 am, which no amount of water can dampen? The eerily peaceful sense of quiet in the hospital hallways, since the only people there are people who really need to be?

Yes to all of those--but the most intense feeling that struck me this morning, that I honestly couldn't identify at first, was the deep and powerful craving for a Sausage and Egg McMuffin. I almost never wake up craving one--it's only after I've been up working all night that I feel like I absolutely need one. I remember back in the old days, I could start thinking about one around 1 am and by the time I got off work at 7, it had built into an aggressive and undeniable desire. As one of the other nurses said, "Oh, yeah, working nights makes you feel like you're hungover. You just want to eat like you've been on a party bender."

Not that I can really identify, except with working all night--but Amen to that, I guess!