I don’t enjoy my working weekends and holidays because they’re always day shifts, meaning I need to be there (and preferably awake) by 7am. So I need to be up by 5:30am. Compare this to the normal noon start to my shift, and my alarm clock’s usual setting of 9am. It wouldn’t be so bad if I was able to get some sleep the night before, but I’m a nocturnal creature and I usually have to take an over-the-counter sleeping pill to help knock me out early enough. Otherwise my internal clock doesn’t hit “bedtime” until midnight at the earliest. Of course, the side effect of this is a groggy morning and blinky drive to work during which I am thankful I’m nearly alone on the road.
Despite my sleepiness, my journey to work these past two weekends has not been grumpy, because I drive east and my timing has been just right to catch the sunrise. I know that a sunrise looks essentially the same as a sunset, but it feels different. There’s something very calming about seeing the light return to the sky, and watching the clouds go from pink to peach to butter to blue.
I totally slept in this morning, though.