Brought to you by the bed at Hyatt Regency plus four pillows, maybe five.

It was Friday night and Friday day wore me out.  No, it was more than Friday day.  It was the week before, a big event week.  It was not taking a day off after a big event week.  It was executive meetings and 1:1's and 'make sure everything is set and ready to go' type things.

I was tired.

And I got to Friday night and felt as if I was driving in circles.  I mean, I did go in a circle but I'm sort of talking about the mental ones.  The emotional ones.  The ones that you don't want anyone to see.  I sat in the car, near tears but not quiet there and dialed Hyatt's reservation line.  I keep them in my contacts for just these occasions.

"Do you have a room?  A really quiet room I could check into, like, ummm..now?"

Room 419 (Don't bother stopping by.  I checked out.) was perfect.  And the bed looked amazing and the pillows were plentiful and not only plentiful but gushy.  You know, the type that fold up under your head and then around your body and the more you stack them around you the safer you start to feel?

I ordered room service, "Please just send up a plate of fries with ketchup as quickly as you can."  We're not looking for gourmet here, folks.  This is comfort and rest and things verging on Southern.

I ate the fries.  I put on the television shaking my head at all the imagery so foreign to me since I don't have television at home and the rowdiest thing crossing my brain is usually The Godfather II.  I tucked myself into the bed and under the covers and pushed all those pillows back around me.

And fell asleep.

And when the morning came, it suddenly dawned (though it was 11am) on me that all I needed was a really good rest.  I write about things like that in Pre Middle Age: Forty Lessons in Growing the Hell Up.  There's a whole chapter on naps and another one on blankets.  I get it.  Sometimes I forget though.

I've been feeling rather overwhelmed with giving lately and not receiving.  It feels unbalanced.  Thinking back to my mom who first placed in giving, I sat up in bed and realized she did that well but she didn't take care of herself.  That's where things were off.  Was everyone else cared for?  Sure.  But did she ever sneak off to a hotel in the middle of nowhere to sleep with a bunch of pillows tucked all around her?  Never.

I, we, you need rest.  And sometimes we can catch the need before it becomes a need when it's simply an almost need.  Other times, the brain is so far gone in busyness and to do's and to don'ts that you can't even think through to what you need.  And that is the time when you make a call to a lovely hotel or a super five star one or even put the "closed for business" sign on your bedroom door for 24 solid hours and rest.

You will not succeed at saving the world one scraped knee, one hospital visit, one packed lunch, one 'pick up the dry cleaning cause I forgot to' at a time if all you do is give and not get.

Much love to you as you give and occasionally, just occasionally….receive.

Cole