Night Owl...

I'm a night owl. I'm pretty sure its a combination of genetics and environment. My Mom being a single-mom for the first 5 years of my life, dragged me everywhere. Every late night revival meeting, or prayer outreach, or fanatical Bible study, we were there.. until the wee hours. Even as I grew older, my parents were always the last to leave every gathering of any kind. It wasn't just a childhood of being out late that made me a Night Owl, all of my extended family on my Mom's side are Night Owls. When all the family gets together, its a miracle if we're in bed before 2am. Its just who we are.

Then I married a "Morning Person".

A Morning Person does not understand the lifestyle of a Night Owl. Neither does the Night Owl understand the need to be in bed by 9pm, or how one can be so chipper at 6am. Nevertheless, we were meant to be together and honestly, have struggled through our definition of an "appropriate" time to go to sleep.

A regular bed time for me is around 11pm and technically, I consider that going to bed "early". If I am in bed before 11pm, it must mean that I am exhausted or sick or angry. My Morning Person on the other hand, its a miracle if he stays up past 10pm. That rarity only happens on the weekend, if we're watching a really interesting movie and he hasn't by some random miracle of the sleep gods, already fallen asleep.

It's also a rarity for us to go to bed together, at the same time. Being the Night Owl that I am, 9pm feels like my evening is just starting. It also means, that I think have mastered the art of quietly coming to bed. My Morning Person may disagree with that statement as even the slightest sound seems to wake him. I'm not sure if you've ever experienced the brillant hillarity of a person who's been asleep for a couple hours, then awakens, but still isn't fully conscious. Its something that I experience on a nightly basis.

As I am stealthily sneaking into bed, he will pop his head up with the most confused (and slightly disgusted) look on his face and ask "What are you doing?!". Really, its rather comedic that in his sleepy, unconsious state, he is so confused by my presence, often saying the most ridiculous things.

The other night when I was tip-toeing out of our bathroom he popped up and said, slightly hurt "Hey! How come you didn't say hello?!".

I didn't realize that greeting him as I snuck into bed was so important, definitely not making that mistake again.

Often, I restrain myself from engaging in any conversation as to not take advantage of his vulnerable state. This is very difficult and one night, I just couldn't help myself. As soon as he popped up and asked what I was doing, the words "Oh! I'm getting you up! Its 6am, you're going to be late for work!" may have come out of my mouth.

Cruel. I know. But oh so funny watching his reaction.

I'm sure its written in some marriage 'how-to' book, the importance of going to bed together every night. Its something that we should probably strive to obtain but really, the problem lies with me. He has no other choice but to go to bed early as work requires an early start and a long day. Besides the fact that I'm really just not sleepy tired at 9pm, I also really enjoy those couple of quiet hours to myself. I'm sure I could be grinding grains or sewing clothes out of curtains, but really, I'm just zoning out with my two dear friends... the tv and iphone. Those few precious hours are really the only time out of the day that I am completely by myself. I'm not sure I'm ready to give that up yet. Until that day, I will only get better at my stealth bedtime approach and my Morning Person will continue to make me laugh.