Lies Wives Believe

Early to bed, early to rise?

For the past three years-plus of marriage, I’ve managed to get around 6 to 7 hours of sleep each night. Granted, I prefer eight (or nine or ten) hours of dreamland, but I’ll take what I can get.

Hubby, on the other hand, regularly gets his full ten hours of sleep. Why is this, do you ask? Well, Hubby’s job doesn’t demand that he be at work directly at 8 a.m. Sometimes he can come in at 9 or 10 a.m. Or sometimes even after lunch (don’t get me wrong, though; his work is very demanding and requires a lot of night work and a lot of traveling). Also, it helps that his “getting ready” in the mornings does not include curling hair, putting on makeup, or getting sweet little Superdog prepared for a day without Mommy and Daddy (i.e. bathroom time, food time, a little play time before work).

So if Hubby does not have to get up until, at earliest, 7:45 a.m., it does make sense that he is not fond of going to bed before 11 p.m. However, as I get up at 6 a.m., I want to be in bed by 10 p.m. and hopefully asleep before 10:30 p.m.

I’ve gotten used to this arrangement because I love going to bed with Hubby. I love cuddling with him and watching TV before I drift off to sleep; plus, if I know he’s coming in later, I have a hard time falling asleep. So it works for us if he watches television while I sleep comfortably on his arm.

Lately, though, my entire sleep schedule has been turned upside down.

We’ve been working on a project that, due to our hectic schedules, requires morning work. Like 6:30 a.m. work. This is no problem to me. However, Hubby is not accustomed to waking up at 6 a.m., even with a delicious pot of coffee awaiting him. So guess what time we now end up in bed?

8 p.m. That’s right, folks: 8 p.m.

I can’t sleep. Usually he wants to read for about an hour, which works well for me, because I enjoy reading too – like right before bed. Not during a time when I could be doing something else. And then, as soon as 9 p.m. rolls around, it’s lights out.

Whhhhhhaaaaaaatttt??

I cannot sleep. I have a specific routine I’m used to that helps me fall asleep: Bedtime at 10 p.m., cuddle and watch TV, lights out at 10:30. That’s my routine; it works well for me. I cannot sleep without the cuddling or the late night TV.

And here’s the thing that really gets me: Why, after three years of marriage, was it okay for ME to go to bed at 10:30 or 11 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m., but NOW that HE has to wake up at 6 a.m., we have to go to bed when it’s still daylight (practically) outside?

Does this make sense to anyone else, or is it just me?