Sometimes when I need help falling asleep (which is more often than not), I will use my white noise app on my iphone to lull me into sweet dreamland.  There are so many sounds to pick from, the sound of a train on tracks...clickity clack clickity clack...the sound of a thunderstorm (they never quite get this to sound like the real deal...maybe if they add smell to it!), softly falling rain, an amazon jungle, a river or creek, the sound of a fan, or just plain ol' white noise. 

But I must say that my favorite sound to fall asleep to is one that reminds me of when I was a child.  In the summertime I would sometimes fall asleep during the late afternoons with my window open.  Outside, my mom would normally have the sprinkler going on the lawn.  You remember those old rainbird sprinklers before they went plastic?  I'd drift off to sleep with that sound wafting in through the window to my young ears, and I didn't put the connection to it, but I felt safe. So now, I hear that sound and I immediately think of home.  I think of safety and security and love and contentment.  I think of my mom and how great of a childhood I had.

Now, almost every night, I fall asleep to safety and security in the sound of the sprinkler on in the yard.  Thanks, mom, for the comforting memories.

Click to hear the sound...and see if it takes you back to your childhood, too.