Why Didn't You Wake Me Up - Redux

Repost from 2009


Why Didn't You Wake Me Up

When I do something stupid (a very rare occurrence unless you ask the Lovely Sharon and a lot of other people around me), it is discussed ad nauseam. For example, a couple months ago, I arrived at work with a shiny black leather slip on loafer on my left foot and a brown suede type shoe with shoe laces on my right foot. Admittedly, the match was not perfect. Some people, including every person at my office and Sharon, thought this was incredibly stupid. People came to my office just to see my feet. For a couple of days I took abuse for my fashion faux pas from all of my feet viewers. I accepted the abuse  without argument figuring it is only fair to be hammered for my own errors and stupidity. However, I sometimes get hammered for Sharon’s misdeeds. This is not fair and should be a cause for my indignant reaction. Consider the following:

My normal weekday schedule is to get up between 4:30 and 5:00 am.  I make a cup of coffee and drink it while I read my office email and various newspapers and news outlets (Salt Lake Tribune, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times etc.) online in my home office. My home office is in the Bud Cave which is in the lower level of our three story house. After about 45 minutes of online review, I take a shower in the Bud Cave bathroom, get dressed and head off to work. I generally leave around 6:30 or so for the office. (Be patient, this essay is going somewhere, I just have to paint a picture of the normal course of events at our house).

While all this is happening, Sharon is sleeping like a baby in the master bedroom on the main level of the house. She is oblivious to my rush of morning activity in the Bud Cave. I try to be very quiet when I leave, so as not to disturb her. (Damn I am nice). Unless, Sharon has some golf event, she generally gets up around 8:00.

Last week Sharon had tennis match scheduled for 9:00 am on Wednesday. She also had a golf team match scheduled for Thursday. The golf match was at the Ogden Country Club and she needed to leave our house around 7:00 am.

OK, the historical background is set.

At 6:30 am Wednesday morning, the day of the 9:00 am tennis match, I ascended from the Bud Cave to the kitchen, trying to be quiet as always. As I was in the kitchen, I was surprised to see Sharon wearing golf attire, her hair a little damp. It was obvious that she had arisen early, washed her hair and gotten dressed. I kissed her good morning and queried why she was up so early and why she was dressed in golf clothes since she had a 9:00 am tennis match. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She thought it was Thursday instead of Wednesday. She thought she had a golf match in Ogden.  She woke up at 5:30, (while I was busy down in the Bud Cave), showered, washed her hair and dressed. I thought I heard her moving around upstairs but wasn’t certain so I did not go upstairs to greet her on the morning. When I saw her in the kitchen she was harried as she thought she was running late to get to Ogden for golf.

Now realizing that this was Wednesday and not Thursday, she looked at me and said it was my fault this had happened. Incredulously, I asked “Why was it my fault?”

She responded with “If you would have come upstairs to tell me good morning at 5:30, you could have reminded me it was Wednesday and not Thursday and I could have slept for another couple of hours.

All of a sudden I got a headache trying to figure out why I should have awaken her at 5:30 to tell it was Wednesday and inform her she could sleep for another 2 ½ hours. Call me stupid but it never occurred to me that I should wake her up to tell her she could go back to sleep.

I left for work in a daze.

I am now planning, a surprise for her. On a day in the near future, when she has no morning activities, I am going to wake the Lovely Sharon up at 4:30 am to tell her she can go back to sleep for another 4 hours. Then with an evil smile on my face, I will head back down to the Bud Cave and read the online news