To Snooze...Or Not

My alarm clock rang sharply at 5:45 AM, like an unwelcome carnival man standing over my ear, ringing a gong. I immediately hit the snooze button, as I always do.

This one small event tests my marriage like nothing else. Forget the other things that people claim are pitfalls of a healthy, happy marriage. If our marriage can survive the snooze alarm, it can survive anything.

For years, my husband and I have had bleary-eyed quarrels at the crack of dawn about my snooze alarm. My husband says it's rude to snooze. I say the clock companies put the snooze function there for a reason. My husband says that if the alarm goes off, I should get up. I say that when the alarm goes off, I need to work myself into getting up, which requires snoozing. I've been snoozing for most of my life.

This morning, on the girls' first day of school, I set the alarm for 5:45 with the intention of actually getting up around 6.  When the alarm went off, I immediately and politely hit snooze. When I say immediately, I mean it's a nanosecond of alarm before the depressed snooze button restores silence. I hit that button like a contestant on the Price Is Right. Bam! 

"Do you want me to go wake the girls?" My husband asks, just half a second after I hit the snooze button.

"No, I'll wake them around 6." I say.

"What time is it?" He asks.

"5:45." I say, wishing he'd be quiet so I can get some more sleep.

"That is so rude," he tells me.  "When the alarm goes off, I am up and awake."

"Get up, then." I say, annoyed at his early morning gruffness.

"You get up," he retorts. "It's your alarm."

"I'm snoozing til 6." I remained firm, without opening my eyes, while ignoring his tone.

This same conversation has been going on for years. It doesn't happen every day, but frequently. We both feel we are "right" and we are both stubborn enough to stand firm. Since he continues to profess an inability to sleep through a snooze cycle and I've been unsuccessful in the immediate wake-up, I've suggested that we move to a home with dual master suites. I've never actually seen a house with two masters, but I see them advertised and I think, for several reasons, this might be the answer to some of our "problems". 

Along with our snoozing dilemma, our current master bedroom/bathroom is not ideal for two people who are on two different schedules. For one, our bedroom has no door into the bathroom, so if one of us gets up earlier than the other, the slew of vanity lights reflect off of the wall of mirrors like the Las Vegas Strip, blinding the one still trying to sleep. We are both typically respectful of the one still trying to sleep, but using the bathroom in complete darkness also comes with its own risks. 

Because our 15 year marriage is rooted in faith, hope, love, commitment, trust and friendship, our little snooze alarm hiccup was just that, a small speed bump on an otherwise smooth road of marital bliss. We're happy in our home with only one master suite, so we'll just need to make some early morning adjustments. 

We got the girls up for school, drove them to their first day of classes and went to breakfast with the boys. The girls came home this afternoon happy with their new teachers and happy to see their old friends. It's been a good day for all of us. I've got dinner prepped, ready to go and we've rented a movie. We'll all go to bed early again tonight and I'll be sure to set my alarm for 5:45, so I can snooze.