ex(PR)essed

Yesterday at work, Jeff learned that the project team he’s been serving on for nearly a year will be required to work 10-hour days for an undetermined amount of time. Considering the other options — revoking his vacation or mandating 1/2 days on Saturdays — I guess we should be grateful for this option that seems to disrupt our lives the least. But, the truth be told, for the past two years and six months, I have relied heavily on Jeff to be my alarm clock in the morning. And now my alarm clock has to leave for work a full 20 minutes before I usually even get up. See my dilemna?

You see, I love to sleep. Almost every night when I turn off my light and pull the covers up under my chin, I comment, “I love sleeping.” Then, every morning when my slumber is disrupted, I mumble/whine, “I don’t want to get up.”

In keeping with my theory that more sleep is always better, I learned early in my marriage to completely tune out Jeff’s alarm clock. Now I never hear it. Within the last few months, I have even stopped being aware of him getting out of bed, starting the shower, or getting dressed. Now, my wake up trigger is the sound of his electric toothbrush or the weight of his body as he sits on the bed to put on his socks. This state of oblivion has allowed me a solid extra 30 minutes of sleep each morning. Priceless.

So, I guess now I’m faced with two options: get up 20 minutes earlier when Jeff leaves for work, or attempt to sleep those 20 minutes and risk totally oversleeping and being late to work.

It’s clear that this decision made by Jeff’s supervisors is having unintended consequences. Perhaps they’ll reconsider this craziness?