The Proper Time To Wake Up

It is dark.

No streetlights. New Moon. Cloudy.

Luckily I have Radar. Which, for the record, is entirely different than Gaydar, which I also have. But I digress.

I wend my way around through the house noiselessly, crawl into bed. I sleep.

Eventually I get up.

And I mean "eventually" in its best latinate sense - in response to an event.

Sometimes that event is enough light coming into to my room that my body becomes aware that I can now see to do everything around the house and outside that I need to do without the use of radar, x-ray vision, candles, torches, kitchen fires, oil lamps, or even those new-fangled electrical candle-things.

[I remember reading a british book once one of the characters went to the dentist and described the torch being put in his mouth. The image of a TORCH being shoved in someone's mouth at a dentist's office was so hilarious I nearly fell out of my chair. Now when I hear the word torch I still get tickled. And how about carrying a torch around in your boot? HAHAHAHA. (FYI In British English, Torch = Flashlight and Boot = Trunk of car)]

Anyhoo, sometimes the event that awakens me is "nature's call." Or else just being done with sleeping. Most often lately the event is Nico waking up. I now ignore his desire to get up if it is before 6:30, and most often it is right around seven, on great occasion it is as late as eight. Of course, once we are moved to Springfield, and Bill gets up around 6:30 or 7 to leave for work by 7:30 or so, who knows what our regular schedule will morph into. And don't we all sleep just a little more in the darker days of the year and a little less on the lighter days? And since we live at LL 39.79,-89.67, I can already tell that the days are getting a little shorter as the summer draws to an end.

[You can easily find Latitude and Longitude with Google Maps. right-click on any spot and choose "What's Here." Google places the LL coordinates into the search box!]

So these are the proper times to wake up. For me.

When I have an earlier job to get to, I go to bed in plenty of time to feel well rested, and on GREAT occaision might set a gentle radio alarm to assist me.

Over all, if you NEED an alarm, coffee, energy drink, cold shower, etc. to wake up for your day on a regular basis, you have poor sleep/eating/exercise habits and are probably grouchy, though no one will tell you.

Anyone who thinks that that they can do with only 4-5 hours of sleep without naps on a regular basis either spends a lot of time in the evenings secretly snoozing with a book or in front of the TV or they are so grouchy and ill-tempered that most people simply avoid them.

Call me if you need someone to tell you whether or not you are grouchy. I provide this service free of charge.

And let me review: Yes, I am more naturally a night owl, but I also believe firmly in getting enough sleep to be of sound mind and body as both a medical and moral necessity. So if I can get up a little later, I do, because I stay up later. Since I became pregnant, now two years ago, I am almost always awake and up around 7 am.

Why am I writing about this?

I have noticed that nearly EVERY time I call someone before 10 my time (US Central), that person says to me, "MY, you're up early."

Somewhere hidden in that comment is a little bit of condescension.

I am pretty sure that my Grandmother, God Bless Her, thought that 6 am was the only morally acceptable time to get up. Anything later perhaps showed a profound disrespect to the Creator.

But she isn't the only one. The Well-Meaning and Well-To-Do alike have their moral framework firmly ensconced in the notion that 6 am to rise and 6 pm to sup (or even 5) makes for a properly ordered universe. 3rd shift workers, would be out of luck, doomed to mediocrity for all time.

But I say, thank GOD for Sister Wendy Beckett. She is a contemplative nun who gets up very early, by 4 am I think. And she lives in England. So, basically, given the time difference, she is already up praying when I go to bed and she has been working and praying all day by the time I get up. I hope she prays for me while I sleep, and I pray for her while she sleeps and I am still up. Besides I figure that God might be a Night Owl and not get up until even 9 or ten, and if you pray too early then they are capably handed by whoever got stuck with morning duty, the saints taking it in turns.

So, Yes, I'm Up. And I'll go to bed eventually. May God Bless our Days and Nights!