At about 1 a.m. I was awakened by a cockroach on my face. People who know me well find it remarkable I didn’t have a heart attack. Instead, I freaked, turned on lights, put on shoes and grabbed a can of Raid. Eventually it showed itself again and I Raid-ed it to extinction.

That is the condensed version. In between, I froze, panicked, talked to myself, froze some more, chided myself for being a ninny. At some point I told myself that there were soldiers fighting in Iraq and people with major problems and that I needed to buck up. Duh.

There is one lingering issue. I couldn’t get back into that bed last night. I was too jittery. So I slept a whopping hour on the couch after taking in Pride and Prejudice on HBO.

Today I did some research on the “meaning” of the cockroach. The website I found said seeing one meant it was time for a major life change. OK. I hear you.

The first step is a restful night’s sleep in my bed …