Like millions of people around the world who are following the Beijing Olympics, I’ve been watching a lot of TV this summer. Parked on my couch watching the events, it’s alternatively a new experience as well as a shot of nostalgia. Here, in 2008, I’m watching the summer games with my own kids. But I can’t help but recall a few decades ago, when I was the kid in the room, watching the events with my own parents, and Jim McKay in place of Bob Costas.
My network’s broadcast schedule means that I’m getting to bed late most nights. At least, late for people who have trains to catch and clocks to punch. Because I work at home, I have a little more slack on this issue, and so, for the past week or two, the Olympics have helped me reconnect with the deliciousness that is sleeping in.
But today was a different story. This morning, I got up at 5 AM. Unlike other people I know, who love to crow about how early they get started in the morning—how splendid the sunrise, how empty the roads are when they go for a jog at dawn—I am not especially happy about it. In fact, I’m not what anyone would call a morning person, and I’ve never quite understood this whole business of the worm giving it up for the early bird.
Who says that rising at daybreak is somehow the hallmark of an honorable, virtuous life? While I’m sure many glorious things happen in the world between daybreak and 9 AM, lots of good stuff happens for me between those hours, too, spending them, as I have been, swaddled in my bed, conjuring adventures in my dreams.
Last night, I drank a tall glass of water before bed. I paid for it this morning when I rose to pee and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I had loads of stuff to take care of today, and those niggling details nagged at me until I sighed, gave in, and un-swaddled. I was barely at my desk when my teenage son stumbled up to my office. It wasn’t yet 6 AM, and looking up to see him standing in the doorway, disheveled and swaying slightly, seemed as jarring as discovering a monkey in a baby carriage. It turns out he couldn’t sleep either, and, like a drowsy but friendly street person, he had wandered in to say hello.
Like me, Evan has a tendency to lie around, writ large as an unperturbed teenager. On a weekend, I might rise by 10 AM. But this summer, he hardly ever sets foot out of bed until the crack of noon. Seeing him there upright, as the sun crept over the horizon behind me, reminded me of a story my friend Scott told me recently about his grandfather.
The old man was a notoriously early riser, lulled to an early sleep, Scott said, by an afternoon spent busily throwing down tall glasses of whiskey. Come daybreak, he would be well-rested and raring to go. And when his grandkids would visit, it would irk him that others didn’t keep the same hours.
He’d rise at 5 AM or so, full of loving gratitude for the day and sipping his coffee in the kitchen while his family slumbered upstairs. But by 6 AM he was banging cabinets and slamming the fridge door. By 7, he was livid. So he took to positioning himself at the bottom of the stairs with a marine horn, fetched from the garage, the kind with a can of compressed air fixed to a plastic horn. They are meant for a distressed boater to use to signal the Coast Guard, or sometimes they signal the start of play at soccer or Little League games. Whatever the case, the horn is meant to sound loud enough to melt your eardrums. In Scott’s grandfather’s house, one long sound of the horn simultaneously shook the paintings on the walls—and the kids and his wife from their beds.
One year at Christmastime, Gramps retrieved the boat horn only to find the compressed air too cold to make the horn sound. Muttering, he tramped into the kitchen, running the air can under hot water and shaking the propellant loose.
I don’t know much about marine horns. But after Scott told me this story, I located one, and right there in the store aisle I read the text of a warning label that clearly said, “Caution: Contents Under Pressure. Do Not Heat.” I don’t know whether Scott’s grandfather, in his fury, couldn’t read or what. But the thing blew up in his hand, precisely as the Warning… well, warns.
What the warning doesn’t tell you is that when it blows up, it’ll boom loud enough to rouse anyone sleeping in, say, the room situated above the kitchen. I imagine that, sleeping there, Scott’s grandmother got quite a start, too, which was kind of lucky for Scott’s grandfather, since he needed a ride to the emergency room. He came back wearing a bandage the size of a boxing glove. But what really irked him at that point, Scott said, what really set him off and sent him bellowing back at the bottom of the stairs, was that Scott and his brothers were all still tucked under their blankets, invoking the sweet dreams of the innocent.
And so I wonder, in part for Scott in the 1970s and in part for me now, what’s so great about getting up early? For me, now, it’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon. And yet at this impossibly early hour for dining I’m irritatingly aware of gnawing in my stomach. I’m too young to eat dinner at 5 PM… but do you see how getting up early will age you prematurely?
It makes me wonder anew: Who says that rising at daybreak is somehow the hallmark of a virtuous life? Who came up with the notion that sleeping in is somehow lazy, slothful, weak, despised?
What about the merits of a soul that’s well-rested? What of the virtue of late-night camaraderie, or—this summer, anyway—the national solidarity of staying awake to the bitter end of the swim finals? What’s wrong with all of that?
Flickr photo: Brenda Anderson
Find more like this: Politics & Society, Pop Culture, Women , kids, marine horn, Olympics, Parenting, sleep, summer
Ann – My best work is always in the morning.
In fact, to write my book, I sacrificed one hour of sleep each day for about 5 months, getting up at 5am to write before my kids woke up.
Now I am thinking of doing it again…
Mike
Ann – My best work is always in the morning.
In fact, to write my book, I sacrificed one hour of sleep each day for about 5 months, getting up at 5am to write before my kids woke up.
Now I am thinking of doing it again…
Mike
Sorry, gal, but on this one, I must beg to differ – not on the basis of virtue, but strict pragmatism. I can get more done between 5:30-8:30 a.m. than any other time, because creativity flows from this fountain while the robins are yanking unsuspecting worms from their swaddling turf. On the other hand, the engine starts to sputter in the mid afternoon, and apart from the occasional evening second wind, I’m not worth a nickel at night (when some folks I’ve seen on Twitter just seem to be revving up!).
Sorry, gal, but on this one, I must beg to differ – not on the basis of virtue, but strict pragmatism. I can get more done between 5:30-8:30 a.m. than any other time, because creativity flows from this fountain while the robins are yanking unsuspecting worms from their swaddling turf. On the other hand, the engine starts to sputter in the mid afternoon, and apart from the occasional evening second wind, I’m not worth a nickel at night (when some folks I’ve seen on Twitter just seem to be revving up!).
Ann — Thank you for the story about “gramps” getting his just, or perhaps unjust, desserts. There is no particular virtue in getting up early, or late, particularly when neither work nor school call for our early rising. Perhaps the old man was just lonely at that time of day. He had a unique way of expressing his existential angst though. Jim
Ann — Thank you for the story about “gramps” getting his just, or perhaps unjust, desserts. There is no particular virtue in getting up early, or late, particularly when neither work nor school call for our early rising. Perhaps the old man was just lonely at that time of day. He had a unique way of expressing his existential angst though. Jim
The day should be divided in 3 equal parts, 8 hours work, 8 hours rest, and 8 hours for leisure and study, at least according to my Grandpa. Sounds good in theory but life is not as defined and work these days, well it takes more than 8 hours of the day. The main point however is you need a balance, sleep in once in a while, wake up early once in a while , stay up to watch the Olympics once in a while, its all good
The day should be divided in 3 equal parts, 8 hours work, 8 hours rest, and 8 hours for leisure and study, at least according to my Grandpa. Sounds good in theory but life is not as defined and work these days, well it takes more than 8 hours of the day. The main point however is you need a balance, sleep in once in a while, wake up early once in a while , stay up to watch the Olympics once in a while, its all good
I think it’s all personal. Like you, I’m not a 5 a.m. person. I’m usually up around 7-7:30, puttering with the coffeepot, reading the paper, and at my desk working by 9 or so, and I’m very productive from 9-1, when I break for lunch. My next best period of productivity is from about 3-7. That’s my perfect dream schedule.
I think it’s all personal. Like you, I’m not a 5 a.m. person. I’m usually up around 7-7:30, puttering with the coffeepot, reading the paper, and at my desk working by 9 or so, and I’m very productive from 9-1, when I break for lunch. My next best period of productivity is from about 3-7. That’s my perfect dream schedule.
Ohhh Annie. I’m with you.
God must have a sense of humor. I have been given a son who is a MORNING PERSON!!! He is, with regularity, up at 5:00 am.
I crave the day when I will, once again, sleep. Blissful sleep. I crave the life well rested. In the mean time, get some for me, okay!?
LOVED your description of Evan. Hysterical. Michelle is the same way.
As always, my dear friend, your writing is a TREAT.
Ohhh Annie. I’m with you.
God must have a sense of humor. I have been given a son who is a MORNING PERSON!!! He is, with regularity, up at 5:00 am.
I crave the day when I will, once again, sleep. Blissful sleep. I crave the life well rested. In the mean time, get some for me, okay!?
LOVED your description of Evan. Hysterical. Michelle is the same way.
As always, my dear friend, your writing is a TREAT.
I admit that as much as I hate getting up in the morning, I’m a little jealous of folks like Mike and Steve.. who do so effortlessly. Heck — getting up at 5 afforded me the time to write this post, so there you go.
@Amy My best hours are the “morning,” too, (and I define them a little more like you do than how Steve does), and then again late at night.
@Jim — Regardless, it makes for a great story, doesn’t it?
@Samer — I like the way your grandpa thinks!
I admit that as much as I hate getting up in the morning, I’m a little jealous of folks like Mike and Steve.. who do so effortlessly. Heck — getting up at 5 afforded me the time to write this post, so there you go.
@Amy My best hours are the “morning,” too, (and I define them a little more like you do than how Steve does), and then again late at night.
@Jim — Regardless, it makes for a great story, doesn’t it?
@Samer — I like the way your grandpa thinks!
That grandpa anecdote had me laughing out loud–reminded me of my dad… In my family, only he was a morning person, and he expressed it daily with a booming voice that somehow regularly shocked us awake. (Naturally, the clomping around gathering this and that necessity would then keep us awake.) I’m totally with you on revving up late and staying up later, though. Thanks for the tale!
What a great story! For me, its always about the story.
… and I’m with you, NOT a morning person. I was up at 5 yesterday, and watched the Olympics too late. Definitely having a low energy day today.
That grandpa anecdote had me laughing out loud–reminded me of my dad… In my family, only he was a morning person, and he expressed it daily with a booming voice that somehow regularly shocked us awake. (Naturally, the clomping around gathering this and that necessity would then keep us awake.) I’m totally with you on revving up late and staying up later, though. Thanks for the tale!
What a great story! For me, its always about the story.
… and I’m with you, NOT a morning person. I was up at 5 yesterday, and watched the Olympics too late. Definitely having a low energy day today.
Though I can occasionally drag myself out of bed around 5 or 6am (as I did this morning because I had no other time to get a workout in), my idea of a good morning is waking whenever the sun nudges me, lingering over coffee, my journal, a poem perhaps, and a stack of books before settling in for a nap around 11. I’m definitely a mid-afternoon to evening person, except of course on those nasty 5am up-and-at-’em days. One last thought–I enjoy the a.m.s much more if they don’t involve any interaction for at least the first 2 hours I’m awake. Thanks for such a delightful post.
Though I can occasionally drag myself out of bed around 5 or 6am (as I did this morning because I had no other time to get a workout in), my idea of a good morning is waking whenever the sun nudges me, lingering over coffee, my journal, a poem perhaps, and a stack of books before settling in for a nap around 11. I’m definitely a mid-afternoon to evening person, except of course on those nasty 5am up-and-at-’em days. One last thought–I enjoy the a.m.s much more if they don’t involve any interaction for at least the first 2 hours I’m awake. Thanks for such a delightful post.
I’m with you Ann. Even God is not up at 5 a.m. However, I find myself unwillingly awake at that time of day (night) more often than I used to.
Whether it’s the many cares of the day (the one upcoming or the one just past) or the fact that bladder control is more of an issue than it used to be, 5 a.m. is a time on the clock I’m getting more used to seeing. No air horns needed.
I’m with you Ann. Even God is not up at 5 a.m. However, I find myself unwillingly awake at that time of day (night) more often than I used to.
Whether it’s the many cares of the day (the one upcoming or the one just past) or the fact that bladder control is more of an issue than it used to be, 5 a.m. is a time on the clock I’m getting more used to seeing. No air horns needed.
Ann, You are great story teller and I really enjoyed this post. Personally, I can’t remember the last time I slept past 8am. I’m definitely not the type to get up as early as 5am either – primarily because I can never seem to shutdown before midnight.
I think its all good until you start answering those 5pm grumbles with a trip to the “all you can eat” for the early-bird special!
Cheers, Jeff
Ann, You are great story teller and I really enjoyed this post. Personally, I can’t remember the last time I slept past 8am. I’m definitely not the type to get up as early as 5am either – primarily because I can never seem to shutdown before midnight.
I think its all good until you start answering those 5pm grumbles with a trip to the “all you can eat” for the early-bird special!
Cheers, Jeff
Before this month, I was a morning person by punishment. I MADE myself get up and go the gym every morning before the family rose and I started them on their day of life enriching activity. (If not the gym there was always work, laundry, dishwasher, etc.) Recently my son was diagnosed with Lyme Meningitis and given a PICC line so we can administer home IV’s for 28 days. A PICC line means no running, swimming, biking, hanging…pretty much piano and reading are okay. So I’ve taken the month off, we cancelled our vacation to Maine and have hunkered down in “get well mode.” Well, the Olympics have been a Godsend! It’s fun, new, exciting and a great way to add thrills to the otherwise ho-hum recovery period. So now we’re all up until 12 or 1 with the rest of you Olympic nuts and then we sleep until 10 or 11. Why not? No pressure to play, exercise or anything else. (For the boy. Don’t worry. I’m still squeezing in some.) It has totally changed my mindset. There is something about sleeping in that may feel self-indulgent but can actually be the ultimate in self-compassion. And while I don’t think this A-typer could do it forever, I think it’s helped me become an A- type for a while.
Shoot. Sorry so long.
Before this month, I was a morning person by punishment. I MADE myself get up and go the gym every morning before the family rose and I started them on their day of life enriching activity. (If not the gym there was always work, laundry, dishwasher, etc.) Recently my son was diagnosed with Lyme Meningitis and given a PICC line so we can administer home IV’s for 28 days. A PICC line means no running, swimming, biking, hanging…pretty much piano and reading are okay. So I’ve taken the month off, we cancelled our vacation to Maine and have hunkered down in “get well mode.” Well, the Olympics have been a Godsend! It’s fun, new, exciting and a great way to add thrills to the otherwise ho-hum recovery period. So now we’re all up until 12 or 1 with the rest of you Olympic nuts and then we sleep until 10 or 11. Why not? No pressure to play, exercise or anything else. (For the boy. Don’t worry. I’m still squeezing in some.) It has totally changed my mindset. There is something about sleeping in that may feel self-indulgent but can actually be the ultimate in self-compassion. And while I don’t think this A-typer could do it forever, I think it’s helped me become an A- type for a while.
Shoot. Sorry so long.
I hope the length of my last comment didn’t make any of your early risers fall asleep.
I hope the length of my last comment didn’t make any of your early risers fall asleep.
Oh and I met it’s turned me from an A type to an A- type. Okay, I’ll shut up now. Can you believe I have a blog known for it’s brevity?
Amy
Oh and I met it’s turned me from an A type to an A- type. Okay, I’ll shut up now. Can you believe I have a blog known for it’s brevity?
Amy
Amen, sister. We’re on the same team.
Amen, sister. We’re on the same team.
Not everyone peaks at 5am. This myth drove me berserk for years as I strove to get up each day at the crack of dawn. The result? No matter what time I went to bed, I was sluggish until mid-afternoon, and even if I hadn’t slept at ALL the night before, when 7pm rolled around, I got a huge productivity wind.
Last year I embraced my inner night-owl and I simply go to sleep when I’m tired and wake up when I wake up. This means I usually sleep from 5am – noon and skip sleeping altogether one or two nights a week. My productivity has skyrocketed, I’m much happier, and I can go days without caffeine and not notice. (If I get up in the morning, I need a venti Americano just to think.)
To whatever degree you’re able, listen to your body and set your own schedule. Your happiness and productivity will thank you.
Not everyone peaks at 5am. This myth drove me berserk for years as I strove to get up each day at the crack of dawn. The result? No matter what time I went to bed, I was sluggish until mid-afternoon, and even if I hadn’t slept at ALL the night before, when 7pm rolled around, I got a huge productivity wind.
Last year I embraced my inner night-owl and I simply go to sleep when I’m tired and wake up when I wake up. This means I usually sleep from 5am – noon and skip sleeping altogether one or two nights a week. My productivity has skyrocketed, I’m much happier, and I can go days without caffeine and not notice. (If I get up in the morning, I need a venti Americano just to think.)
To whatever degree you’re able, listen to your body and set your own schedule. Your happiness and productivity will thank you.
Great post Ann, you really know how to tell a story
I’m so with you, definitely not a morning person, never have been. Caused plenty of conflict with my parents growing up, as they are both early risers. Luckily my husband (although much more of a morning person than me) understands my love of sleeping in on weekends.
Part of what I love about having my own biz and working from home is the extra 2 hours of sleep I get each day since I don’t have to spend time getting ready for work and commuting – I live outside D.C. and traffic is horrible so I used to drive an hour or more. I can get up at 8-8:30 am and have coffee, shower and wake up, then be ready to work at 9.
I’ve really been into the Olympics too, I’ve been praising the inventors of the HD-DVR every night as I record it and start watching it a half hour later so I can fast forward through the gazillion commercials. I hate TV commercials, although I do have to say the VISA ads with Morgan Freeman doing the voice overs are pretty good.
Great post Ann, you really know how to tell a story
I’m so with you, definitely not a morning person, never have been. Caused plenty of conflict with my parents growing up, as they are both early risers. Luckily my husband (although much more of a morning person than me) understands my love of sleeping in on weekends.
Part of what I love about having my own biz and working from home is the extra 2 hours of sleep I get each day since I don’t have to spend time getting ready for work and commuting – I live outside D.C. and traffic is horrible so I used to drive an hour or more. I can get up at 8-8:30 am and have coffee, shower and wake up, then be ready to work at 9.
I’ve really been into the Olympics too, I’ve been praising the inventors of the HD-DVR every night as I record it and start watching it a half hour later so I can fast forward through the gazillion commercials. I hate TV commercials, although I do have to say the VISA ads with Morgan Freeman doing the voice overs are pretty good.
Ever noticed that the folks who trumpet this concept are morning people by nature? I imagine it made a little sense before electricity, when rising at noon meant losing five or six productive hours. In an age of light bulbs, though, it’s a lot of bunk. I’m no good before 10 AM, and best after 10 PM. So I guess we’ve got that in common
Ever noticed that the folks who trumpet this concept are morning people by nature? I imagine it made a little sense before electricity, when rising at noon meant losing five or six productive hours. In an age of light bulbs, though, it’s a lot of bunk. I’m no good before 10 AM, and best after 10 PM. So I guess we’ve got that in common
Scott’s grandfather is just like my Sicilian grandmother who lived with us…when I would come home from college for any holiday…I wouldn’t get up out of bed until noon…a mortal sin in her eyes…but if I did have to answer the call of nature early in the morning and get up to go to the bathroom…when I returned to my room I would find that my grandmother had sneaked into my room and made my bed…thank god she didn’t know about that horn.
Scott’s grandfather is just like my Sicilian grandmother who lived with us…when I would come home from college for any holiday…I wouldn’t get up out of bed until noon…a mortal sin in her eyes…but if I did have to answer the call of nature early in the morning and get up to go to the bathroom…when I returned to my room I would find that my grandmother had sneaked into my room and made my bed…thank god she didn’t know about that horn.
I have to hand it to you. Taking such an obvious daily routine and writing the most beautify synchrony of prose to provide some great contours around it.
Like I told you before, its good with a cuppa in the morning.
BTW I am a morning person big time. Wake up at 445 most days. Loving it.
I have to hand it to you. Taking such an obvious daily routine and writing the most beautify synchrony of prose to provide some great contours around it.
Like I told you before, its good with a cuppa in the morning.
BTW I am a morning person big time. Wake up at 445 most days. Loving it.
Hey all — Your comments here are pretty much confirming for me that there are two kinds of people in the world.. those who get up early, and those who don’t. Seems like this should be part of the standard questioning on eHarmony or marriage prep or whatev… as it’s a pretty fundamental thing!
…and I love that Christian added his comment at something like 2 AM!
Hey all — Your comments here are pretty much confirming for me that there are two kinds of people in the world.. those who get up early, and those who don’t. Seems like this should be part of the standard questioning on eHarmony or marriage prep or whatev… as it’s a pretty fundamental thing!
…and I love that Christian added his comment at something like 2 AM!
I too dread morning people. My mom is one, and although she never had grandpa’s horn I remember her unloading the dishwasher at the crack of dawn as loud as humanly possible – which she still does to this day (to my father’s night-owl dismay).
I too dread morning people. My mom is one, and although she never had grandpa’s horn I remember her unloading the dishwasher at the crack of dawn as loud as humanly possible – which she still does to this day (to my father’s night-owl dismay).
Anyone notice a disturbing personality defect in these so-called Morning People? Blowing horns, slamming doors, clandestinely making beds, banging dishes… just to make those of us on the cool side of the pillow as miserable as they are? ;]
Anyone notice a disturbing personality defect in these so-called Morning People? Blowing horns, slamming doors, clandestinely making beds, banging dishes… just to make those of us on the cool side of the pillow as miserable as they are? ;]
Hi Ann – you’re so right. It’s a personal decision, and I’m of the non-early persuasion. Ever since I was a kid, one of the delights in my life is sleeping in until my body tells me it’s time to get up. The work world sometimes forces me into something different, but I work as hard in “my” hours as other people do in theirs.
Your writing, as always, is superlative. I enjoy your blog as much as many of my favorite little literary indulgences. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee and a late morning.
Hi Ann – you’re so right. It’s a personal decision, and I’m of the non-early persuasion. Ever since I was a kid, one of the delights in my life is sleeping in until my body tells me it’s time to get up. The work world sometimes forces me into something different, but I work as hard in “my” hours as other people do in theirs.
Your writing, as always, is superlative. I enjoy your blog as much as many of my favorite little literary indulgences. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee and a late morning.