We're not lazy, we're smart!

We all have these random childhood memories. One of mine revolves around my inability to get the bedtime thing down pat. You see, I've been a night owl as long as I can remember. Was also a big fan of napping when I was a kid, but that kind of went out of the window when school came along.

But even after the napping ended, the night owl thing continued. When I would spend the night with my aunt and uncle, they would let me stay up and watch Johnny Carson, which was just so way cool to me. When my dad got tired of watching Christmas specials -- I think I was in the fifth grade -- he bought my brother and I a small black-and-white TV for Christmas so he wouldn't have to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ever again. Which just shows what poor television viewing taste my father had!

Anyway, when it was my night for the TV -- we had a schedule, of course -- I would always turn it down really low and watch Johnny Carson. At least I always tried. Mom would come back there at some point almost every time I did and tell me to turn it off and go to bed. You see, I was the only night owl in the family.

My brother was a night owl in his teens, after driving license and before marriage, but not much after that. For me, being a night owl isn't a lifestyle; it's a necessity! My brain does not get fully functional until the sun is at full strength, glowing brightly in the sky each day. On cloudy days, my synapses seem to fire more slowly. Could never live in Seattle, beautiful city that it is. I'm kind of like a solar energy person, and I would die of starvation there.

Being a night owl also means that I like to sleep late in the morning. And late to me does not mean 7 a.m. That is not late. That is torture, and even after more than 40 years of getting up early to go to school, to go to work, and now to go back to school and work, I'm still not used to it. Can't go to sleep before midnight or 1 a.m., no matter what time I get up in the morning or how busy the day is. Drugs? Not much help. Exercise? Only if I get myself so physically exhausted that all I can do is shower and go directly to bed with wet hair. And even then it's useless to try before 10 p.m.; otherwise it's just a nap and I'm up an at 'em again until 2 or 3 in the morning!

Given that I like to stay up late and sleep in, I've also been told I'm just lazy on more than one occasion. Really? I want to ask them to get by on less than 6 hours of sleep almost every night for 40 years and see how you feel! But I don't. Because a part of me has always felt like I was lazy for not getting up early, for exercising before the crack of dawn like all these other people, for knowing late-night television scheudules better than prime time.

Until I read the article last week. According to this study, people who are night owls are actually smarter than everyone else!!!! Hallelujiah! I'm not lazy; I'm smart. A burden has been lifted. I will no longer feel guilty for staying up to watch Conan and Colin and Chelsey. (Jay and David are soooo last year!) I will continue to scan the stations for every Law and Order rerun I can find and watch them all until I have every script from the 100 years it was on memorized! The world is NOT better at sunrise; it's infinitely better when the moon is high in the sky and there's a cool breeze in the air.

Night owls of the world unite! We are not lazy; we're smart!