Zzzzzz....

Back in the late ’90s, I was seeing a woman named Brooke. One thing I truly adored about her was the fact that she loved to play all kinds of games. Be it a game of Canasta or Boggle, my girl was ready to throw down at any time. We’d finish dinner at times as quickly as possible so that we could dive into a rematch promised from the night before. I loved playing games with her.

Well, one Sunday afternoon while waiting for her to finish a crossword puzzle so that I could exact my revenge for a horrific Canasta beatdown the night before, I laid my head down on her lap while watching television. Boom, I was out. The warmth from her body was this almost magical temperature that lulled me instantly into one of the most peaceful naps I’ve ever taken.

I never thought much about that nap until years later when I was dating Leah. We curled up to take a nap and I found myself almost instantly out after having been wide awake just moments before. When I awoke from this nap I was reminded of the nap where Brooke had seemingly cast the same spell on me. This warmth became known as “The Spell.”

Leah cast The Spell over me hundreds of times and I slept unlike never before while she was living with me. After we split up, I discovered that there was a third female that possessed the magical warmth — my daughter, Gwen. One Sunday afternoon she crawled up on Daddy’s chest while watching a movie and I instantly drifted off into a Spell-induced nap. She’s since done this several times with the same results.

This afternoon, Gwen and I went to see “Open Season” at a local AMC. We were in one of the theatres that has stadium seating so Gwen promptly tucked away the divider between us and curled into me to stay warm. 3…2…1…out. Was I tired before the movie? Not at all. I’d slept a good eight and a half hours — which is more than two nights of sleep for me, regularly — the night before so it wasn’t like I was in need of the nap. Yet, Gwen’s ability to cast The Spell on me came through like clockwork.

The movie was an hour and forty minutes. I slept through all but ten minutes of it. When I awoke at the very end, my head was resting on top of Gwen’s. Whoops. I sat up and moved away from her somewhat so that I wouldn’t slip right back into my nap. My daughter is proof positive that some girls can cast spells on their Daddy.

Are there more than just three women on Earth that can cast The Spell on me? Only time will tell.