Attempted Night Life

So I have this theory about my mom which I have to consciously surpress to not have it expressed in myself. It goes something like this. Mom is so afraid of missing any kind of 'fun' that she would rather stay around people asleep (usually in a not so comfortable position) rather than retire to the comfort of her own bed. To demonstrate I have the following examples:

Example 1: Sunday mornings=Video chat with the family (mostly just mom and dad since Cory is too dang busy for his older sister!)
Most recent experience talking to mom and dad goes something as follows:
Me: Mom, are you sitting with your head out of the screen so that you can fall asleep?
Mom: No I'm not (as she scoots into the frame).
Conversation continues with reduced input from mom. Me and dad are talking about something of extreme importance probably.
Me: Mom are you asleep?
Silence
Me: She's a gonner!
Mom: I'm awake. I heard everything you said. You are talking about (fill in with one word that we mentioned 3 minutes previous).
Okay mom! =)

Example 2: Several Years ago back when we would read books together as a family:
Mom is reading aloud and all of a sudden cuts out mid-sentence. I'll never understand how one falls asleep mid-sentence while reading aloud but from what I have heard, it is a common phenomenon that occurs at night with my Aunt Linda as well!

I'm sure that all of us has had an experience that has been cut short due to the falling asleep of one member of the conversation so feel free to share with the rest of us. I find myself trying to convince myself that I really would rather fall asleep comfortably over falling asleep in the company of people I love spending time with. Either way you seem to miss the action! In the later I guess you add to everyone else's action so for that mom, I thank you!

Why we move so much?

I have a theory on why we move about every 3 to 4 years. It is all Lena's fault. She has a warped sense of friendship. Pretty much every place we go, she usually laments that she does not have many "good" friends. I think her definition of a good friend is someone who, like her twin sister, calls her at 3 AM to talk about anything and pretty much can know what she is thinking 15,000 miles away.

Anyway, Lena shows up in a town and within 6 months, she has at least a dozen people who if you asked would call Lena a good friend. A couple of people might even consider her a best friend. She has the uncanny ability to get people (sometimes even perfect strangers) to open up to her. I do not know how many times she has relayed a converstation she has had where the person told her "I can't believe I am telling you this. You are one of the only people who know." Those are the ones she is comfortable revealing to me. I imagine there are a many others whose secrets I do not even know she has heard.

As an example, we spent Christmas 2009 in Spain and went to he Alhabra palace in Granada. I had dropped her off to get in line at 6:30 AM (on line tickets were sold out). By the time I walked back to the line, Lena was engaged in a long conversation with a couple (probably in their 60s). By the time the line opened up for tickets, the man apologized for telling us his life story. We knew about kids, dogs, and his jobs working as a house painter.

By the time we have spent a couple of years in one place, I always have to add the "Lena" factor when leaving the house with her shopping or going on a errand. If we are going to the local grocery store, I have to add 20-30 minutes for the 2-3 people that she will run into while there.

At year three, the shear number of friends vying for time on Lena's busy schedule can be overwhelming. So the easiest thing to do is move to the other side of the world.