Disorienting morning

I am asleep.

Suddenly, I am compelled to hit the snooze button on my alarm.

Tired, I open my eyes and see an even number hour followed by 00. It is silent, but it would be after hitting snooze. It feels way too early, but that's often the case in the morning. I'm still making my groggy departure from dreamland when my mind reprocesses the hour, "Wait a second... that's a 4, not a 6."

In a sleepy state, my mind tries its best to figure out what's happened. "Did I dream my alarm and then physically hit the snooze button? Am I dreaming now? Did my alarm get reset to 4 instead of 6?" I test this third theory, hitting the 'set alarm' button and confirming that it was still set for 6:00. I let go of the button and the clock showed 4:00 again.

"Ok, so my alarm wasn't changed...  Did Jen poke me because I was snoring and my sleeping brain took that stimulus and responded with 'hit your alarm'?"

At this point I can't be sure 'why' I awoke at 4am, but I am sure that I *am* awake at 4am, and that's no fun. However, I also know that it is 'only' 4am, so I get to go back to sleep.

Seconds later, Melanie semi-sleepwalks into the room. ("Did she make a noise getting out of bed and *that* woke me up?" "Shut up, brain! You're trying to sleep!" "Oh, right. Sorry.") I pull Melanie into bed and set her between Jen and me. Mel snuggles in and goes to sleep. I, on the other hand, now need to go to the bathroom, as all this thinking and moving has initiated the "time to get up" launch sequence. ("Stupid bladder. We're trying to sleep." "Sorry.")

On my way back to bed, I'm desperately hoping that the dog doesn't think he should join in all this fun. Thankfully, he remained silent.

All too soon I experience stimulus and am compelled to hit the snooze button on my alarm.

"Dang it," I think. It's actually 6:00 this time.