08/03: Sleep Walker

I was a sleep walker.

One time when I was 6 or 7

while my family was living in the city at our Rochester house,
I actually sleep-walked right out the front door.
I had unlocked the main door and opened the screen door and walked out.
My parents woke up when they heard the door open
and rushed out to find me taking the last few steps off the stoop.

My mom said they'd usually hear me bumping around downstairs.
My room and my brother's rooms were on the main floor,
my parents had the top floor for their room.
She said they'd wake up after hearing something fall to the ground,
or me bump into something or other,
then one of them would come down and guide me back to bed.
They could tell I was sleep walking because my eyes would be half open.
How fucking creepy is that?
I think if my kid ever does that, I'll lock my bedroom door
because I shudder to think of some zombie-walking, half-open eyed kid
wandering around the house in their sleep.
That is what child-proofing the house is all about.
Round off corners on tables and shit
so when your creepy ass kid starts sleep walking
around in the middle of the night,
you don't have to deal with corralling them back to their room.
Elgh.
Just weirds me out.