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Yesterday afternoon my son stormed out of the room in a fit of teenage frustration over who-knows-what. (Most likely his sister was bugging him.) After about a half an hour he returned in a sunny mood, with this drawing:



















He'd been looking at trees outside the window, trying to do homework, when he picked up a pen and started drawing on the back of a school paper. I love the composition and the graphic quality, and told him so. He was very proud.

"Here's my chance," said my Mom-brain.

I asked if he had ever thought about keeping a sketch journal, just for himself. His eyes lit up and he said, "Okay." Being a laid back kid, believe me, this qualified as totally excited. Then he asked, "Can you get me more of these pens?" My good ones that always mysteriously disappear. "You bet!" I told him.

He's always been a creative kid in a 3-D sort of way-- brilliant with legos from a young age and fascinated with everything mechanical. He loves his drafting class and talks about wanting to study architecture. This past semester he'd taken Drawing 1 as a back-up class, since his first choice was full. I think he was surprised by how much he liked it.

I hope he discovers the joy and sense of wholeness that comes from putting pictures and ideas on paper. I hope he sticks with it.

Do you keep vampire's hours? Are you a night owl or an early bird? Share your stories in the Comments area. By the way... The current world record for the longest period without sleep is 11 days, set by Randy Gardner in 1965. Four days into the research, he began hallucinating. This was followed by a delusion where he thought he was a famous footballer. Surprisingly, Randy was actually