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Steven Ugoretz's avatar

Like many other activities, waking up early varies as a function of your life stage: When you're a little kid you want all the shut-eye you can grab, unless Santa or rich uncle Ben is visiting the next day. While your in school, you don't have much choice: That bell rings for you five days a week from late summer until late spring. If you're in college, avoiding that dreaded 7:45 isn't always possible, but you're still young and vigorous enough to handle what's thrown at you. Then you leap into the rat race, and your time is not your own, at least until you accumulate enough vacation time for a real escape. Then comes "maturity" AKA old age. Well, at that point, getting up early is usually a function of your kidney clearance rate and bladder capacity (a word of warning). But sometimes, on the way back to the bedroom, you catch a glimpse of the first beam of sunlight peeping through the shutters. And then you trip on something you left out last night and stumble and grumble back to bed. As always, the message is carpe diem, which is probably the main thing us oldsters can pass on on any topic.

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Will Peterman's avatar

a great message and something I'm trying to do every day!

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Judy Crown's avatar

I CAN’T sleep late!! After all those years of getting up at 3 or 4 or 5 am my body will just not stay in bed when I see the little whispers of dawn. I guess I am just a morning person!

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Will Peterman's avatar

I hope you're good at getting to bed early or one of those super heroes who can function with just a few hours of sleep!

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Judy Crown's avatar

I need lots of sleep so I go to bed with the chickens!!😊

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Steve Peterman's avatar

I believe it. I seem to remember you as the cheeriest person in the makeup and hair trailer!

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Steve Peterman's avatar

I love this column. And, no surprise, agree with pretty much everything you write. Yes, it’s wonderful to burrow under blankets on a cold night, wake up on a cold morning and realize, “hey, I’m not working on anything that requires me to be someplace at nine…or even noon,” and burrow back under the covers. But also yes, it can be almost a spiritual sensation to get up in the dark, set up the coffee for a loved one still snoozing away, tiptoe out the door, gently closing it behind you and be on the 134 heading west as a gorgeous full moon descends behind the hills of Griffith Park. Then, you can watch the sky to the East go through its spectrum of changes as the sun creeps up over Mt. Baldy and you see the green temple of a golf course, untouched as yet by a slice or worm burner, gradually brighten. If you’re lucky, a family of deer might venture tentatively out onto a fairway from the trees, glancing up at you and then, as if they know by now you’re not there to hurt them (and couldn’t hit them from twenty yards away if you tried) trotting slowly off to munch on the grass of a hole no one’s gotten to yet. It’s a moment to savor, and bask in your good fortune to be there. And then you spend the next four hours trying to hold on to that sense of gratitude no matter how crappy you play. But that’s another blog. For today, a warm bed is awesome, as is a dawn you feel is being colored just for you. Agreed!

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Will Peterman's avatar

AMEN!

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nancy newhouse porter's avatar

Will, like you my incline is to hit snooze and slip delightfully into a state of total relaxation and/or gentle sleep. After the multiple snooze hits, I love to grab a cup of coffee and snuggle back under the blankets to read The NY Times. ( whoa, am I over sharing here?). But I must admit, when I occasionally kick myself out of bed early, it can be rather sweet, especially if I’m in Santa Barbara watching the sun come up over the water.

Loved this column. Look forward to the next!

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Will Peterman's avatar

There's really nothing like the sunrise at your back and the ocean in front of you, it's truly a sight to behold

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Cecilia McCollum's avatar

I HATE WAKING UP EARLY and you know how hard it is to get me out of bed!

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Will Peterman's avatar

You are the number 1 fan of not getting up and you are elite at it!

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Teresa Canterbury's avatar

Honestly, sleeping in is the greatest thing ever! But M-F, I have to get up at 2:30 am for work (🙄) and that is my FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY! It’s QUIET, very little light on, and is when I sit with a cup of coffee and a cat on my lap, finally reading my emails.

Hate getting up😑 but Love when the coffee starts brewing 😌. Totally get it. 👍🏻

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Will Peterman's avatar

2:30 am?!? That’s SO early! Whatever you do, you’re a saint!

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Teresa Canterbury's avatar

Ha ha... nowhere near Saint- just completely insane! 😂😂😂

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Harry Pinkus's avatar

Unlike many of my age group, I am not an early riser. I prefer to stay up late and sleep late unless, of course, I'm getting up for golf or to go on vacation. I attribute it to the folly of my youth when, having not done my homework, I would stay up late to postpone being held to account for my transgression.

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Will Peterman's avatar

boy do I hear that! I still have nightmares about falling asleep doing the homework I should have done hours ago

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Nick O's avatar

I'm definitely not a morning person, but I can be for McDonald's breakfast :)

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Will Peterman's avatar

There's really nothing like a sausage egg and cheese, especially if you put the hash brown in the middle

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Nick O's avatar

your essay inspired that exact order this morning mmmmmmm

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Will Peterman's avatar

SHEEEEESH. I'm jealous

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Steve Peterman's avatar

Oh, Nick, you deserve better than that! What about the Lucky Boy breakfast burrito?

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Nick O's avatar

Lucky Boy breakfast burritos are sensational ... and I can even get one after 10:30am!

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Judy Crown's avatar

I CAN’T sleep late! After getting up at 3 or 4 or 5 am to go to work on the set, my body just will not let me sleep in after seeing the whisper of dawn! I am a morning person!

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Eric Rodli's avatar

Check with your buddy John on getting up early to help us all by insuring thst the bond market stays liquified . I think the magic of sunrises gets old pretty quickly

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Will Peterman's avatar

Yeah I bet that sunrise looks a lot less magical when you've seen it for 500 days in a row

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