Certain Sounds

The M/V Klickitat, a ferry I took many times
out of Port Townsend when I lived there.

I haven't been sleeping well. It's not a big deal, I've never really been very good at sleeping. To be specific, I'm really good at falling asleep, but I'm terrible at staying asleep. I'm not sure if there is a name for this type of insomnia. It ebbs and flows, and some months I'll have a long stretch where I don't sleep any night between 1am and 4am. I'm in one of those cycles right now, and as I was lying awake the other night, I heard what sounded like a low, long horn echoing in the distance. I had to remember that it was almost impossible for me to hear such a thing, because I'm landlocked right now, and that sound was something I only heard when I lived in Seattle. The sound of boats humming and grumbling their horns, bellowing to one another at night is something not heard here in Michigan. As I lay awake, I started to think of all of the sounds I don't hear anymore, and used it as my way of counting sheep:
Large vessels on water, ferry boats
The click and hum of electric busses
Apartment neighbors
Western Gulls
Traffic
My crow friends asking me for breakfast
Constant talk about the viaduct

And then I started to think of the sounds I do hear now, that I never really did before I moved to Michigan:
Katydids and cicadas
Constant ceiling fans and rumbling AC units
Cardinals and Blue Jays
Snow plows
Undergrads
Constant talk about how bad the roads are

I love my new sounds. But I still miss you sometimes Seattle.