When you woke up on Sunday morning, looked at the clock and saw that it was later than it seemed, what did you think to do first? What was the first thing on your mind when you knew you had less time that day?

I have a funny Daylight Savings Time story. When I was a senior in high school, I went to France with my AP European History class over spring break. It was a great trip- there were only seven or eight of us, but we all got along well with each other and our teacher. I was good friends with the only other two girls, and we were roommates for the trip. A few days prior to daylight savings weekend, we were in a small town near Normandy, and my two roommates and I disturbed the neighborhood by singing songs from Les Mis all up and down the cobbled street. We were having a blast (though not a very considerate blast, in hindsight).

We arrived in Paris the night before daylight savings, and while we were getting ready for bed, it suddenly occurred to me that we had to get up an hour earlier the next morning. The other two girls weren’t sure, but I was adamant- I was SURE it was daylight savings time! The obvious thing that didn’t occur to me, of course, was that we were in France. It wasn’t daylight savings time in France! I made my friends get up an hour early, and we went down to breakfast to meet our group, only to find the room dark. To their credit, they didn’t get TOO mad at me. (If you’re reading this, Lily and Kathryn, I’m still sorry!)

All these years later, I’ve been wondering what made me so fixated on making sure I observed daylight savings, and I’ve finally come up with an answer: it was really, really important to me that we didn’t miss a minute, or an hour, of that trip. I was so excited to be in France, to absorb all the history, art and culture, that I completely overlooked the fact that daylight savings isn’t a global institution!

Yesterday morning, when I woke up, I wasn’t in France. I was in my bedroom in my house, and it was 5:45 (though it felt like 4:45). Edwin wasn’t awake yet, which I considered a stroke of luck. After thinking about Edwin, the next thing that popped into my head was: write. I’ve been trying to get up a few minutes before Edwin every day to start my writing. He already wakes up very early (5:15 is normal, 6:00 is lucky) so this has been challenging, but I’ve found it’s worth the effort even if I only get a few minutes in, just to get my brain working on my writing projects.

I did decide to go back to sleep that morning. I knew I’d have writing time later, I’d done some extra work the night before, and it just felt too early; if I didn’t get more sleep, I might not have the energy I needed for the day. I’m glad I went with that second thought. But the first thought was telling.

When you wake up and you have less time than you expected, what do you do with that time? What do you put first, and what do you cut out? What, in other words, are your priorities?