Good morning, good morning...NOT

This morning as I was brushing my teeth I realized something. I had already brushed my teeth not 10 minutes earlier. Why did I do this? Because I am NOT a morning person. This type of thing happens but usually I forget to do something, not do something twice. Like I’m blow drying my hair when I realize I forgot to condition it. Or I’m taking some medication before bed and realize I didn’t take my medication from that morning (that’s a bad one). Or I get to work and realize I forgot to put on deodorant (this has happened enough times that I now keep a stick of deodorant in my desk drawer at work). Sometimes I forget to take things with me when I leave in the morning: yogurt for breakfast, a book I want to return to the library, my cell phone.

For as far back as junior high school I have always needed an alarm clock to wake me up and the first thought in my mind has always been, “I wish I could sleep another hour.” It doesn’t matter how much sleep I get (last night I got just over 8 hours of sleep and was still in such a daze I brushed my teeth twice). I’ve always needed a lot of sleep but getting up in the morning has always been hard.

Right now I’m pretty damn lucky. My commute to work is about 10 minutes. But I still push it. I’m supposed to be at work by 8 a.m. (this does happen on occasion). My alarm clock goes off at 7:05 a.m. and I immediately push the snooze button. By the time I actually get out of bed it’s between 7:20 a.m. and 7:25 a.m. I don’t dilly-dally in the morning. I get up, take a shower, get dressed, do what I need to do to be presentable and then walk out the door. I don’t eat breakfast at home (I eat at work). I don’t read the newspaper, watch television or have a cup of coffee (I don’t drink coffee – hum, maybe that’s part of my problem?). Getting an extra 10 or 15 minutes of sleep is more important than any of that.

Back in high school my mother dragged me to the doctor because I was going to bed at 9 p.m. Of course, there must be something wrong with a teenager who goes to bed at 9 p.m. I tried to explain to my mother that I was going to bed that early because I had to be up so earlier. Back then I had to get up at around 5:30 a.m. in order to have just over an hour to eat breakfast, shower and get dressed before catching the bus at around 6:40 a.m. in order to get to school for first period which started at 7:40 a.m. The doctor didn’t find anything physically wrong with me.

And yes, I’m yawning as I’m writing this but I did remember deodorant today (at least I think I did, let me check – yup, I’m good).