Sometimes I feel guilty about going to sleep early. I leave children doing homework, I leave bills unpaid, I leave conversations un-had, all in the name of a good sleep before an early alarm. After all, what kind of parent, or even grownup, am I, if I so easily abandon responsibility in favor of sleep?
Truthfully, most of the time, I don't feel guilty at all. I like sleep (and how often does a parent get to do something just because she likes it?). Even better, I do need to be "on my game" for the day, starting quite early. There are breakfasts and lunches to be made, notes to be signed, buses to be caught, and a going-out appearance to maintain. As all of these things take some energy, it's only reasonable that I bed down, whether I'm abandoning nighttime responsibilities or not.
Tonight, as I write, I am forcing myself to stay awake until midnight in order to pick up a child from a theater job. I would rather be sleeping, but I'm not. Because when it comes right down to it, whether it's about sleep, or about anything else, we do what needs to be done. We stay awake when we'd rather be in bed. We do for our kids and our jobs when we might rather be doing for ourselves. We don't need to feel guilty all the time, because we do the right thing most of the time. Even if it means sleeping some other time.
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