I ride the bus with a colleague who works on my marketing team. Yesterday, as we walked from the EWU bus station to our offices in Hargreaves Hall, Will asked me a really good question.

“How do you pass the time on the bus?”

The bus ride to/from Cheney is about 23 minutes, equating to roughly 45-50 minutes round trip. As I have outlined in this blog before, this time is coveted by most bus riders. Instead of spending it behind the wheel, it allows us to decompress and attend to things we wouldn’t have the luxury of completing while driving.

I answered Will’s question by telling him that I answer emails, format my blog, read the newspaper, and sometimes close my eyes. The last item really caught his attention. Will explained that he couldn’t imagine having the ability to sleep on a bumpy city bus. He then said something I never considered before:

“That’s your super power,” he exclaimed.

Well, if the ability to nap anywhere is a superpower, consider me Superman!

I can effortlessly sleep anywhere….including sitting up in chairs.

Yes, I have the uncanny ability to sleep “sitting up.” And this ability truly extends to just about anywhere. I can fall asleep instantly in our black leather chair at home but I also can snooze in more challenging environments as well. Car rides, bus rides, and in airports are welcome opportunities for me to catch up on sleep. Probably most advantageous of all, I can easily sleep on a plane. It isn’t out of the question for me to fall asleep prior to takeoff on the east coast only to wake up when the plane touches down on the west coast.

Where did this habit—I mean superpower—come from? My grandpa slept in his chair A LOT. As a restaurant owner who never seemed to leave his beloved café (which stayed open for extended hours), he preferred to catch some zzz’s in his reclining chair when he did come home. I observed this and I guess I ended up emulating it.

I like to think I keep my grandpa’s hours as well. As a 3 a.m. riser, I instantly fall asleep when I hit the pillow at around 11 p.m. each night. But when the opportunity arises for me to supplement this sleep schedule with a cat nap, I have no shame closing my eyes wherever I may be at. As long as I have a bed—aka a chair—I am good to go.

Sidney will tell you, however, that I don’t sleep like a baby. If she is driving a leg of a road trip and I am snoozing in the front seat, it isn’t pretty. As I never use head rests when sleeping in chairs, my cranium is bobbing back and forth while my body moves with the road. She says sudden brakeage, sharp turns, and a loud radio won’t wake me but it sure looks hella uncomfortable. I hope I don’t look as miserable when I sleep on the bus.

Sure, I would rather fly or render myself invisible as my superpower but falling asleep on call isn’t a bad consolation, right? Thank you, Will, for validating my superpower! Don’t Blink.