Middle age is when you can't read for more than half an hour without feeling sleepy. So when the lids start to droop, you get up off the couch, pray Midday Prayer, take down and fold the line-dried laundry, wash a load of bedsheets, then sit down and read again. Half an hour later, your lids droop, so you get up, wash the lunch dishes, clean the bathroom, get a glass of water, and see what's going on in Facebook land. Then you get back on the couch, open your book, and after another half hour your whole head begins to droop. Then you give up and watch silly game shows on GSN and shout answers at the contestants because, you know, they just might hear you. Then you pray Midafternoon Prayer and ask, as one does at the beginning of every Office, "God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me." Perhaps one should do that before one tries to read.
