Just a Silly Story

Once upon a time, about seven years ago, I overslept my alarm for work. I woke up about 20 minutes late but did make it to work on time. Since then I set two backup alarms, just in case. I now have an alarm for 4:10am, 4:15am and 4:30am, all on my phone. The last is just to be on the safe side and neither the 4:15 nor the 4:30 alarms have ever gone off because I wake to the 4:10 alarm. Well, two nights ago I went to bed as usual with all three alarms set and this happened.

I woke in the morning from a dream or whatever and rolled over to look at the time on my phone. It was 4:25! Holy shit! I slept through the first two alarms! I tossed a cat off of me, threw back the blankets and jumped out of bed. Grabbed work clothing and got dressed then quickly went through my bathroom routine because my son, who works with me, would be getting up somewhere between 4:30 and 4:45 and would need the bathroom himself.

I finished up and went to the kitchen to feed the cats, who were all standing and waiting patiently for their breakfast. I was feeling all sorts of rushed and I hate that feeling. Like I'm forgetting something but knowing I'm not at the same time. So the entire time I'm dishing up fur baby vittles I'm wondering why I didn't wake to the first two alarms. I know our power was out for a little while late in the night because the power company was trying to repair a line on the next block. I figured it might have something to do with the wi-fi. Didn't really make sense but it was 4:40 in the morning.

I fed the cats and retreated to the living room to sit and wait for my son to come upstairs. In the meantime I was looking at my phone and realized I hadn't gotten the notification that my car started at 4:40 like it was supposed to, and it was 4:42 at the time. My Ford app is set to start my car at 4:40 every weekday, just in case you were wondering. But what the heck was going on that my phone wasn't doing what it was programmed to do? I was getting very frustrated.

Because the car didn't start I used the app to remote start it. Then I hit the Extend button so it would continue running for an additional 10 minutes above the pre-set 10 minutes. I felt a little better because all I had to do was wait for time to leave. But I noticed something different. When I hit Extend on the car app it adjusted and said "Vehicle will remain running until 4:02." WHAT?! It needed to stay running until 5:02. It was an hour off. What the fuck was going on? My brain was scrambling to figure out this early-morning mystery. I was so confused. Until...

I looked at the phone screen again. The time was 4:43. No, it was 3:43. It was 3:43am. Why was it saying 3:43? And suddenly my damn brain clicked and buzzed and registered what was happening. When I originally woke up and looked at my phone to check the time it said 3:25 but I only registered the :25. The 3: part literally bypassed my thought process. I was up 45 minutes before I was supposed to be up and then I got pissed. At me. Because who else would be to blame? Nobody. Just my overly sleep-addled brain stressing me into thinking I was late when I could have slept for another 45 minutes. UGH!!

I tried lying on the sofa and going back to sleep for a little bit but it didn't work. I was already awake and moving and ready for the day to begin. Good grief! It kind of sucks that I was up so early but I can actually laugh about it at this point. I'm sure others have done this sort of thing and if I can help it, I'll never do it again. Even if I have to recite the time to myself half a dozen times before it completely registers. But it is what it is and I made it through the day. Life goes on, right? 😊

Until next time...peace to all.