“Early to rise,
Early to bed,
Makes a man healthy,
But socially dead.”
-Animaniacs

J. and I make all sorts of good decisions, with fine intentions, and solemn promises to comply with our goals.  None of which work when slapped with reality.  Case in point?  Going to bed at a reasonable hour.  We can’t do it.  Nevermind that I have work at 8am and if he’s a millisecond late to class his homework won’t be accepted.  Somehow we scrape through everyday but it’s been by the skin of our teeth every time. 

This past sunday night I turned to him very seriously and said, “We have to start getting up earlier, ergo, going to bed earlier.”
“Ok,” he said, “nine thirty?”
“Good idea.”
I then stayed up until nearly midnight because The Great Escape was on, and who doesn’t want to watch Steve McQueen nearly jump the border into Austria (chased by the entire Nazi army who sprung from nowhere)?  And last night, J. was doing evil accounting homework, so what other choice did I have but to watch episode after episode of Mad Men?  None whatsoever!  And I certainly couldn’t have stopped myself from going to Blockbuster and getting the next two DVDs.

The real problem isn’t going to bed…it’s getting up.  When I was a student I could stay up for hours (or days if it was exam week) and I don’t think I’ve lost the ability, just the will.  The weather is growing delightfully more and more chilly, it’s getting gradually darker in the mornings (which is a blessing because I can’t sleep if there’s any light at all), and I have this nice warm husband to cuddle up against.  Waking up just doesn’t seem nearly as good in comparison.