This morning, I did actually wake up with the sun at 0700...not hung over (I'd only had 2 glasses of wine). There is no excuse for what I did next --I went to the bathroom and then went right back to bed.
I hadn't set my alarm clock. The thing is, my whole room fills with sunlight each morning because I still haven't gotten around to putting up my curtains. I'm so slack, I know. The cheap blinds I do have are practically sheer and only make the morning light more luminescent.
And I discovered that sometimes I just like to be in bed, bathed in sunlight.
(Can you blame me? I have a monster pillow-top, king sized bed cusioned with a glorious down feather mattress. It is swathed in 600 thread-count sheets and overlaid with a cloud-like down comforter and has about fifteen dream-worthy pillows bobbing around on top. I became addicted to luxury bedding when I was working in Baghdad and now I can't live without it. I mean, I know that my bed is a bit much for someone who sleeps alone, and I probably DO have more bedding than God, but the one thing I learned overseas is that sleep is a sacred, sacred thing. My bed is the bed I dreamed of having in Iraq.)
So even though I felt like I could stay awake and get some stuff done around the place, I made myself go back to bed. In theory, 0700 is WAY to early for a kid-free Saturday morning when I have no plans and nothing but time. Can you blame me? After 300 + days of getting up at 0430 EVERY DAY with no weekends, the opportunity was too good to pass up.
So, I went back to sleep and woke up at 1400. I panicked for a sec until I remembered that I didn't have to be anywhere, and then I just felt guilty...like I should have somewhere to be, or atleast confess to someone what I'd done.
I called my mom because I usually call her at some point near the start of each day...she might be worried! I told her I'd just woken up and she laughed and said she figured that was what had happened. Big help, totally letting me off the hook. Hmm.
I posted to FB:
Does sleeping until 2pm count as oversleeping if you are kid-free for the day, have nowhere to be, don't have a hangover or cause for one and purposely didn't set your alarm-clock?
Now bear in mind that about 95% of my friends on FB have a gazillion things to do on a Saturday...parties, ball games, camping, remodeling, yard work...not to mention posting on FB about everything they have going on. One gal, early 40's, had posted that she'd gone to the gym at 7 AM, a time I had deemed too early to be up on a Saturday if I didn't have to be. And you KNOW she didn't have to be at the friggin gym.
It always stresses me out just reading about everyone's jam-packed weekends. Plus it makes me feel lazy in comparison.
***NOTE - Last Saturday was an exception because M (my daughter) and I accidentally had a completely full schedule:
- Big cook out and b-day party
- impromptu WWII air-show
- box seats at Wicked! that night
So, anyway, I figured that a post in which I all but admit to sleeping until 2 in the afternoon would be shocking.
Not so much. Turns out my peeps were awed and a little jealous. No one seemed put off by my indulgence. I was like a folk hero...the wiley single mom who took advantage of a fortuitous twist of Fate, wherein the stars aligned and nothing stood in the way, neither guilt nor responsibility nor obligation, of my sleeping until mid-afternoon.
Their comments were like laurels being thrown in tribute to me. I could see their wistful smiles as they wondered what it would be like to be so completely unfettered, if only for one blissful day. There was not one sarcastic remark, not one begrudging comment. For the span of a single post, they all wished they had been me!
With a lump in my throat, I knew that my friends had fully supported my decision to sleep in.
Some might say that sleeping more than half the day is a waste...lost time that one cannot ever get back. But I slept in for more than just myself...I did it for those less fortunate than I.
I slept in for all of you.
