Is 4:30 the new 6:30?

I peeked through one eye at 4:15 only to see the clock was 2 hours earlier than what I expected. The daylight was just starting to come through our glass-block bathroom wall. The other 3 in bed with me were still snoring. (Yes... you read right... 3) Dave was wayyyyy on the other side of the bed snoring away. Followed by Simon who was also snoring away but asked politely in his sleep for his Ben10 watch. Followed by Rachel who was sweetly snoring and had her hand entwined in my hair and a leg thrown over my abdomen. Could it only be 4:15? It was at that point that my brain clicked on. There was no going back.

My poor husband. Throughout the entire school year he had to poke me with a stick and have a marching band come in to perform so I would get out of bed by 6:15. He had been up for hours at that point and completed most household tasks, had coffee on SL with Blissie or wandered the empty SL streets alone (favorite pastime of his), and planned his attack on nutso parents all before I ever even exited dreamland.

Now? 3 days into the non-school year phase of our lifetime performance and I am 3 for 3. 4:15 or 4:30 AM... awake. Does this mean I am taking the summer shift with Blissie for coffee? My blog title was already formulated before I ever left the bed. Does this mean I should try to do an earlier work day and head in by 6 so that I can work 7 to 4 this summer? Does this simply mean the adrenaline from the last few weeks is finally burning off in my system and eventually I'll return to my old ways of loving sleep after 4:15?

I've had a whole string of headaches recently. Migraines actually. I've messed with my bed settings (sleep number.. hello... hoo!) I've drank enough water to float away. I've done stretches and downward dog. I've taken my trusty Relpacs... but that is NOT a long term solution. I think they could be from the fallout of returning to a very full work schedule. Overly packed event days and trips going from 0 to 90 mph in terms of work might do it. Maybe waking up at 4 something and then desperately trying to go back to sleep does it too. I think I've read that can cause headaches. So here I sit. Just me and my blog. And, Rachel who freaked out that I had left the bed. "Mommy, come back to bed" were her good morning words to me through tears. Snuggled beside me on the couch under a fleece blanket, she is also now wide awake.

Monday. Memorial Day (in my country). I am sure there is plenty more material in this blogging brain of mine to share... it just has to percolate. I won't bore you with it now if you have hung in this long, appeasing my desperate need to blog the obvious.

Cheers to summer schedules and 3 day weekends and a full day ahead of barbecues and whatever else you plan to do to celebrate the official start of the summer season, and a thoughtful remembrance of those who we have the holiday for in the first place.