I'm SOOOO Not A Morning Person

I'm really not. I'm not a night owl either. Early afternoon isn't my highlight. I'm still figuring out where I shine, but it definitely isn't in the morning.

Yesterday morning, the alarm went off at 5:40am, and I didn't roll over and snooze it. Nope, like a good little girl, I got up and took my shower so I could be on the road to work by 6:15. As I stood brushing my teeth, I realized this was probably the last week I'd be able to get ready without turning the light on. Early mornings with harsh light are worse for me.

As I got everything together, I realized that I needed to take off my nail polish before going to work. As a side note, bug spray does not like nail polish. I didn't have time before I left, so I ran upstairs to bring it with me in the car to do after I ate my breakfast. And yes, I eat my oatmeal on the road. It's too hot to eat when I make it, and no food allowed in workspaces.

As I walked out of the house, I even remembered to grab the three bags of Target things that I had to return on my way home. When I got in my car, I realized that I had forgotten my phone and sunglasses, so I retrieved them, as well. Phew!

Traffic wasn't too bad, and I was pleased with that, although I again realized that I'd shortly be driving to work in pitch blackness. It actually got quite dark as a huge thunderstorm rolled in, and I thanked my lucky stars that I'd be at work before (I hoped) the storm would hit.

A couple miles from work, I started reviewing mentally what I had to do when I got to work. That's about when I realized that I might have left my laptop at home. I looked over to the passenger seat and moved the Target bags to find ... nothing. Whoops.

On the way home to pick up my laptop (since my husband and wee ones were still asleep and couldn't meet me halfway), I watched the traffic on the other side of the road build up more and more. There were more than a few deep sighs heaved in the twenty-five minutes it took to glide home through open streets. Yeah, the trip back took over an hour. Well over two hours in the car before I made it to work. Fun!

As I parked, I realized how much the parking lot fills up in the hour and a half after I usually get to work. The south entrance to my building has an upper and a lower parking lot, with an entrance towards the west side of the north wall. I always park on the lower level on the far east row because I usually get the third or fourth spot there. I was about the fourth from the end in that row yesterday.

Now's when my brain fuzziness in the morning started to cause problems, although I didn't realize it until a couple hours later when I thought through the sequence of events. As I got close to the door, I reached into my purse to get my badge. Except that it was still attached to the pants that I work last week and sitting in the dirty clothes hamper (don't judge my laundry speed).

Without a badge, one must go upstairs per the sign near the entrance. I trudged up the stairs to the entrance there. Only once I got through the revolving doors did I realize that there was no guard there and that I had to walk around to the main entrance.

Now. My building employs several thousand people, and it's designed with long wings to the north and south. A normal person would return to the car and park near the main entrance, especially since another thunderstorm was threatening and about to break. That thought never crossed my head, as I walked around the building with no sidewalks to the main entrance to get admitted.

Fortunately, the rest of the day at work went better, as it was no longer really morning. Or at least not early morning. And how much more could I do wrong, right?

Oh, except that I learned that without a badge, I can't print anything or make any copies or get faxes, as all that requires logging in via my badge. Not that I learned this two minutes before a meeting where I intended to walk a couple people through a presentation I had created or anything. Luckily, I work with understanding people!

When I left at the end of the day, I went down to the lower level garage and used my temporary badge to get the doors to open so I could exit. That's when it dawned on me that if the temporary badge didn't work to print anything, it also wouldn't let me out.

I went back to the nice guards to return the temporary badge and gain access to the outside world. Walking outside to more thunder for my trek back around the building and to the furthest reaches of the parking lot, I got out my car keys. And realized that I'd left my phone upstairs (anyone sensing a theme here?).

Fortunately the guard let me back in, and I only had to carry the badge versus getting a whole new holder for it. When I came back, said guard told me good-bye and hoped that it was the last time. Because, really, I needed the snark to remind me that I didn't have it together! Fortunately, at that point, it just made me giggle.

And when I looked at my watch -- oh wait, I forgot to put on my watch yesterday, too, so really it was the clock on my phone -- I realized that the morning was over and the day could only look up.

Next time the alarm goes off at 5:40? I might snooze it. My mom, on the other hand, suggests a checklist. Too practical!