Ms. Not-a-Morning-Person

Something funny happened today. Rich and I went to bed around midnight last night and I probably fell asleep soon after. I'd asked him to set the alarm for 6 so I could get up for my early morning GED/ESL class. Sleeping well, I don't think I stirred till the alarm went off; in fact, I remember thinking, "Oh, I feel pretty rested!" as I rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. After getting ready, checking emails and making a big glass of tea to take with me, I gingerly felt my way down our outside steps, which were completely iced over. When I arrived at my classroom a few minutes before 7, the room was all locked up. It's usually open and I couldn't find the rec monitor who works in the building; surprisingly, his door was locked as well. Typically, one or two of my students are waiting when I arrive--early birds--but none of them were in sight, either. I waited by the door for several minutes and no one showed up. I started wondering if maybe they'd all had to work a longer shift than usual since most of them work overnight and then come to class. A few people walked by and I asked if anyone had a key to the room but they didn't. It began to feel very curious that no one was there. I am on call for work right now so am carrying the station's cell phone (I don't have one of my own here...no real need for it) so I flipped it open and it said 6:20 AM. This did not faze me because I had dropped the phone the day before and the back flew off, dislodging the battery, so I just made the assumption that it had somehow messed up. Still, no one had come to class yet and the rec monitor had not shown up for work. I walked into the work-out room and looked at the clock on the wall, which also showed 6:20. There was a guy working out so I asked him, "Is that clock RIGHT? Is it really 6:20??" He said YES. It finally dawned on me that, apparently, I had awakened at 5 AM, not 6 AM, and had arrived at class an hour early! I called Rich because I was so amazed and could not resist telling him what had happened. The only thing we can figure is that he accidentally advanced the time on the clock when he set the alarm. Hilarious! And to think I'd jumped right up and felt so good. :)

By this time, I didn't think there was any point in going back home so I took the opportunity to organize my papers and handouts, get the lessons ready for the morning, and get everything set up for class. After my students were in their seats, I told them my little story and they all got a chuckle out of it. I think they were wondering how I could be so dense! I am still amused by the whole chain of events!

It's funny how one's mind works. Once I had it in my head that it was 6 o'clock when I got up and going on 7 o'clock when I left the house, none of the evidence to the contrary registered. I know I looked at the clock in the living room and the one on the computer at home several times to make sure I was on track....but my mind expected to see 6:45 or whatever so that's what I saw. Even when I looked at the cell phone later, I was making up reasons why that time was wrong. So strange! In conclusion, I guess I CAN be a morning person if you keep me from knowing how early it really is. :)