weekend 3-way: don't be alarmed

It’s 10:13 pm, and I’m trying to force myself to go to bed. This goes against my very nature, against habits I have worked long and hard to establish, habits that agree with me. But tomorrow, I’m a–leavin’ on a jet plane at 8am, and need to make time to drag and prep the kids, gather food for the duration, drop off the dog, get to the airport, get through security, and drink 855 gallons of espresso if I’m going to have a chance at making it. So, it will be an early morning. I fret that I will oversleep and the whole house of cards will come tumbling down. I no longer trust my internal alarm clock.

With that in mind, this weekend’s 3-way asks: do you use an alarm clock?

Jacquie:

No. But I will set one tonight, and when it goes off in the morning I will undoubtedly be shocked into panic and start running straight for the hills. In my normal life, I wake up around 7:15, plenty of time to stretch and yawn before rousing the peeps to greet the day. I’ve been on vacation for the last two weeks though, and have enjoyed many late nights and have spent many mornings languishing in the luxury of my lovely bed. Some nights I hatch a plan to wake up early the next day for the gym, and on those nights I tend to suffer some anxiety during the night. I worry less about sleeping through work than I do about sleeping through a work out. I’ve been known to toss and turn from the time the newspaper hits the driveway until I finally throw in the towel and get my arse up. Other mornings I think that will be my fate, but then I accidentally lapse into that deep morning sleep that steals the hours right out from under your drool etched pillow. Heading east for the next week, my internal clock is going to be totally whacked out anyway, so I might as well stay up late tonight and hope to catch a few zzzzs on the plane. Either way, I’ll have my rally cap firmly planted by the time we arrive on the upper west side!! Off we go!

Ellie:

An alarm clock? What's an alarm clock? No, no I do not. I have to be at work at 11:30 and I can manage that just fine.

My internal alarm clock goes off around 8, but it's been closer to 7 on these beautiful bright summer mornings. It's a really good internal alarm clock: if I stay up late carrying on, it makes the proper adjustments.

Bill has a real-live alarm clock on his side of the bed for his recent months of 9-5, but when I have to get up early -- and, frankly, I can't quite remember the last time I did have to -- I set the cell phone. And I, too, have angst about it not going off.

Have a great trip, Jacquie. The Big Apple has no idea what it's in for. See you all tomorrow!

Beth:

Well that makes all three of us. I do not use an alarm clock, at least not regularly. I do believe the clock next to my bed has an alarm function, but I inherited the clock when I moved in with my husband, and have never had the need to use it so I'm not entirely sure.

I do set the alarm in instances such as Jacquie's, when early morning travel is involved and everyone is relying on me to get them up and at 'em and to the proper destination at the proper time. But I don't know if I ever actually end up hearing the alarm, as I'm usually waking up every 10 to 15 minutes an hour or two before the alarm is set to ding-a-ling; I typically give up on the extra half hour and jump in the shower before the bell.

I currently have a host of medical professionals waking my ass up all the night in here, so I'm actually becoming adept at falling back to sleep, repeatedly, after having complete conversations. I figure this is good training for what's ahead, for the day, approaching quickly, when I take my tiny but loud baby alarm clock home for the every-2-to-3-hour wake up call.