Jared: my friend the narcoleptic

On Saturday February 13, my friends and I decided to paddle our local playboating run the Tilton. The day wasn't particularly exceptional, we surfed, and played down the river, stopped a few times to stretch the legs and regain feeling in our feet. But there was one instance that is memorable just because of how hard I laughed.

On this day Chris and I had gotten behind the main group for a moment in order to empty out the gallon or so of water that was sloshing around at our feet. We dumped our boats, and then got back in the water and paddled downstream in order to catch up with the rest of the group. The rest of them were floating in eddies around the corner waiting for us to run the rapid and group up again. The rapid that separated us was an easy class III with multiple lines, I started on the River Right and weaved my way over to river Left to catch an eddy that Jared was in.
Oh, here is some background information on Jared. Jared, is one of the first people I started paddling with when I arrived in Olympia, and he has a peculiar manner of things, but a good guy all around. The guys and I always give him a hard time about his sleeping habits. "If he doesn't get his required 17 hours of sleep he can't function" or, "Jared the undiagnosed Narcoleptic". The kid can sleep anywhere and anytime, sitting up, standing against his car, at a stop light, and now in his kayak.

As I pulled into the eddy Jared had his paddle in his lap, holding onto a rock, elbow resting on the cockpit rim, and his cheek against his hand. Dozing. Initially I didn't realize he was sleeping, but when I pulled up next to him and said "what's up!" and he startled awake I lost it. I laughed for the next 20 minutes, I had to go up to everyone and explain why I couldn't stop laughing. It became infectious, the legend about Jared and his need for sleep just gained notoriety. This morning while I was in the shower I thought about it again and started laughing just as hard. If I didn't know him like I do this event wouldn't have been very funny, it might have been even a little scary. I might be lead to believe that he was having a stroke or a heart attack, or some other disorder that was killing him. But no. I laughed. I laughed hard. I've woken him up enough times in a variety of other situations, but this was a first. Fast asleep, sitting in his kayak, at the bottom of the Tilton gorge. Classic. Sounds like a Seinfeld episode.

I think that doctors could use him as a case-study to write there doctorate thesis' on, any man that can sleep even while there adrenaline gland is pumping is truly special.