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Welcome to Sleepy Shorts Short Stories for
Bedtime. This podcast is brought to you

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by I have a story to tell
you that will help take your mind off

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of all your worries and cares.
You will listen and relax and drift peacefully

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into sleep. It's time to turn
off the lights and snuggle into your bed.

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Find your most comfortable position there.
Now take a few seconds to relax

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your mind. It's time to sleep. Time to rest and rejuvenate our minds

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and bodies. In order to prepare
our bodies for sleep, let's do a

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couple of muscle relaxation and breathing exercises. I want you to inhale for a

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count of three, and while doing
so, tighten all your muscles ready and

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inhale one two three, Hold your
breath, keep your muscles tense. Now

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exhale to account of six. While
you relax your muscles one two, three,

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four five six, feel your body
sinking deeper into your bed. Let's

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do this one more time. Take
a deep three second breath as you tighten

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your muscles one two three, hold
it now, relax and exhale to account

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of six. One two, three, four, five six. Let your

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body sink even deeper into your bed
again. It's time now for your sleepy

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short Let me help you fall us
sleep. New Mexico Desert days. I

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grew up in the desert of southern
New Mexico. The house I lived in

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was at the top of a hill. At the bottom of that hill was

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a dead end. I loved that
dead end because just past it and was

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thousands of acres of desert. Most
weekend mornings as a child, I would

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wake up bride and early, excited
to go exploring with my dog, Misty.

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Misty was a German shepherd mix that
shed a lot and barked too much,

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but she was my best friend.
German shepherds are loyal and smart,

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and Misty was both of those things. When we got her as a puppy,

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my dad said she needed to be
an outside only dog. Thankfully,

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he caved into my begging and pleading, and soon enough she became my constant

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buddy. We did everything together.
We played together, we slept together.

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Sometimes we even ate together. But
our favorite thing to do was get up

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early and explore the desert. Exploring
can take a lot out of you,

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so we would make sure to eat
a good breakfast first. I would pour

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kibble in her bowl as she happily
pranced around the kitchen. My breakfast was

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usually something boring like corn flakes or
raisin brand, but I didn't care.

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I would scarf it down so Misty
and I could hurry up and get on

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with our adventure. Misty knew the
routine, so as soon as she was

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done with her breakfast, she would
head toward the front door while I filled

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up a canteen with ice and cold
water from the sink. Misty's green leash

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was kept in the closet by the
front door. The second I would get

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it out of the closet, Misty
would jump up and down, yelping excitedly.

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It always took a minute or two
to calm her enough that I could

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get her leash on. I'd opened
the door and we would begin our adventure.

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The house where I grew up had
a small courtyard with rosebushes on either

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side of the walkway. I love
to inhale the sweet smell of those rose

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bushes as we walked toward the wrought
iron gate that led to the driveway and

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then the sidewalk. Walking down the
street always turned into a jog as Misty

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would be so excited to get to
the desert, pulling on the leash,

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whining, tail wagging. It was
only about a five minute walk past the

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other adobe brickhouses to the open desert
at the end of the street. I

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would take Misty's leash off as soon
as we got there and watch her race

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off with her nose to the ground, sniffing excitedly. We had a little

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game we would play. One day, she found an old rabbit fur and

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buried it deep in the desert sand
like it was her special treasure. Then

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every day after that, when we
would go for our desert walks, she

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would find the rabbit fur, dig
it up, and bring it back to

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me to show it off, usually
with her cute nose covered in sand,

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and then she would run off to
bury it in a new hiding place.

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As soon as that game was over, we would start our explorations. The

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desert in southern New Mexico was vast
and seemingly endless, miles and miles of

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nearly white sand, green and brown
sagebrush, and plump cacti with pink flowers

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depending on the season. In Misty
and I would stroll for hours, it

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seemed along the familiar sandy trails through
the desert landscape. I loved the feel

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of the warm desert breeze on my
skin, and the way the breeze smelled

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of sweet, clean, fresh air
mixed with bitter sage brush. It's a

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scent from my childhood that as an
adult I can still distinctly remember. Sometimes

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our explorations would take us to old
arroyos or dry creeks. You could see

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the erosion on the side of these
dry creeks and see the smooth, wavy

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patterns in the sand that water once
made in them during the spring rainy season.

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Sometimes we would find a creek with
water, which Misting love to run

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up and down in, barking and
biting at the splashes she made. To

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find an oasis like that in the
middle of the hot, dry desert was

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always a treat for both of us. We would come across some wildlife sometimes

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on our explorations, too, a
green lizard sun bathing on a rock,

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or a brown and white striped roadrunner
zipping across the sand chasing a bug.

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And by the way, roadrunners actually
don't look anything like the cartoon. They

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are actually small and dainty and don't
say beep beep. On lucky days,

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we would spook and unsuspecting gray jack
rabbit and Misty would be off for the

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chase. Ten years of chasing jack
rabbits in the New Mexico desert and she

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never caught even one, but that
never discouraged her. She gave it her

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best effort every time, sprinting off
into the sage brush, returning to me

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a few minutes later, panting and
exhausted, but clearly very happy. Sometimes

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we would begin our desert explorations in
the evening, just after dinner. It

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would be cooler then, and somehow
that would make the air smell different to

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me, regardless of what time we
ventured out, though, Misty would always

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begin the adventure by running off to
find the old rabbit fur and bringing it

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back to me proud. I would
pat her gently on the head and tell

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her good girl, and she would
trot contently out of my view in order

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to secretly bury it. Again.
We wouldn't stray too far from civilization in

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the evenings, though I knew that
there were packs of coyotes out there,

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because at night I could hear them
howling from my house, but I never

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got to see one. They always
stayed hidden, but you could hear them.

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Being in the desert at dusk was
always magical for me. The sunsets

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seemed to fill up the entire sky
with shades of yellow and orange, and

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even sometimes red and purple. When
the moon was full and low in the

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sky, it seemed like you could
just reach out and grab it. When

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it rose high in the sky,
it would illuminate the whole desert with its

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light bouncing off the nearly white desert
sand. There were many nights that Misty

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and I would stay out well past
my curfew, pretending we lost track of

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time just to enjoy watching the colorful
sunset before we strolled back home in the

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quiet, bright light of the moon. Back at my house, we would

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snuggle up in my bed and quickly
fall asleep, excited for the new day

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ahead of us. Good Night,
Lay hold Y l La to d