Confessions of a Night Owl

Mornings sure aren't easy.

I have always had a hard time understanding how anyone could classify themself as a "morning person." Night owl that I am, I have a terrible time waking up at any hour before 10 AM. Number one on my list of "Things I Hate About School" has always been getting up early. I've often commented that I wouldn't mind school at all if we could simply start at 2PM and go on until about 8. (Though I'm sure, if that were the case, I would hate school even more.)

Since school let out, I've been sleeping ridiculously. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed to tell you exactly how much. They say the average adult needs eight hours of sleep. And I've read that teenage girls sometimes need ten. I can very easily clock twelve. There was one night, recently, where I slept ten to eleven hours, after which I ate breakfast/lunch (I tend to wake up at about lunchtime but the first meal of the day is called breakfast anyways.), and then went back to my room to sleep for another 3 hours. My Mom came down to my room at about 4:30PM, when I was rolling around happily in that space between sleep and consciousness, and demanded to know if I had been sleeping. (As if it is some sort of unspeakable crime.) I told her, no, I had just been reading, and she went away. (When my Mom asks me what I'm doing, I usually say "nothing" or "reading." I doubt she ever believes me, but for some reason it's better to say that than to admit that I'm sleeping, talking to friends or watching movies.)

I had work at 10AM today, which for most would be a pleasant hour, but which for me has become unspeakably early. I slammed repeatedly on my alarm clock's SNOOZE button this morning (as is my usual custom), and drifted in and out of vivid dreams, thinking, I don't doze...I hibernate.

When it became absolutely too late for me to press SNOOZE again, I threw my covers at the wall and managed, shakily, to stand up.

I bitched and moaned and cursed my way through the morning until I was standing in line at McDonald's, cashing in my coupon for a free breakfast sandwich. (That's what you get when they make you wait 20 minutes for ten little McNuggets and a box of soggy fries.) As I waited for my McGriddle, I looked around the restaurant and noticed that every restaurant customer (besides me, of course), appeared to be over 70 years old. They were all sitting peacefully at their own tables, sipping hot McDonald's coffee over their newspapers and crossword puzzles.

I wanted to sit in the corner and watch them. Oh, I thought, What people watching can be done in the morning! Look what I have been deprived of, all these years!

I've come to the conclusion that mornings hold for me a tranquility and clear sense of mind that I don't find at any other time of day. The hard part is, I've got to tear myself out of bed in order to experience it. I've also discovered that once I get that nasty separation with my bed out of the way, the rest of the day can be quite nice.

P.S. Oh, anonymous blog commenters, how I love you.