Are you a morning person or a night person? I wonder what qualifies someone as a morning person. I like the morning… the quiet before everyone is awake and life is busy, the sunrise, the birds chirping. It’s just that I rarely experience this.

This was a question in our premarital counseling many years ago. Before I could announce I had selected “morning person” for myself, Jeff said “I’m not sure what you are, but you’re definitely NOT a morning person.” The truth is I’m famous for my sleeping abilities.

In college I tried to become a morning person by scheduling all my classes at 8am. I loved it! I still hit snooze multiple times in my sleep (and once fell asleep standing up next to my alarm, which resulted in crashing into the chair, fridge, and desk, before landing on the floor with a few bruises), but I liked being up in the morning. When I worked at Copper Rock Coffee I had the open shift at 5:30am. Even more recently at A&M Partnership I chose to rearrange my hours to avoid traffic so I started at 7:30am, an hour before anyone else got to the office!

But probably no one who knows me would describe me as a morning person. Is it because I can hit the snooze button in my sleep every 9 minutes for an hour, even if the alarm is across the room requiring me to get out of bed? Or because, as any roommate of mine can attest to, I don’t talk for at least the first hour of being awake, and when I do talk I sound like Barry White? Or because I make poor decisions in the morning (shower or sleep? Breakfast or sleep? Do my hair or pony tail and sleep? Sleep always wins). Whatever the reasons, the world forces us to be morning people, unless you’re a rock star.

Unfortunately, I think I’ve passed on my sleeping qualities to Jack. He’s been known to sleep until 10am, often right next to me, cuddling in my bed. I had to wake him up the other day so I could hang out with my friend for a play date. I scooped him up out of bed and laid him on the changing table to get him ready. And he gave me that look. That look that says:

Why is it so bright in here? Did you have to turn the light on?
Haven’t you heard the experts say “never wake a sleeping baby?”
Mom, didn’t you see how cute I was sleeping, especially in your big bed with the covers pulled up around my waist?

I got a glimpse of the future. “Jack, wake up! Time for school. Jack! Jack! Wake up!” It sounds all too familiar, my mom is thinking as she reads this, because it’s exactly what I would hear (and ignore for as long as possible) every morning.

Well Jack, we’ll get through this morning thing together. Maybe once in a while we’ll even sleep in and I’ll just call the school and tell them you’ll be late. Just don’t tell Daddy.

PS – I’m not a night person either. Mid-day is pretty good for me.