The Alarm Clock

This is an example of an idyllic morning. Matt’s alarm clock is the opposite of this.

Since I have known Matt he has had the worst alarm clock in the world.  It screeches in the morning and glows a bright red during the night.  The alarm clock has been the subject of many debates.  He thinks it is the greatest alarm clock because the horrifying sound that escapes in the morning would wake the dead.  I think hearing that noise that resembles a fog horn screaming in terror is a terrible way to start the day.  I also think that if you want to get up at 5:30 A.M., you should set your alarm clock for 5:30, because once I’m up, I’m up.  Matt thinks if you want to get up at 5:30 you should set the alarm for 5:00 A.M.  That way you can hit snooze three times.  His logic means I’m up thirty minutes earlier than I need to be.

Thankfully, for the most part, thanks to the smart phone, we haven’t used this alarm clock as an alarm in years.  Though it has still haunted our nighttime with a piercing red glow.  Occasionally I’ll rotate it backwards so you can’t see the glowing numbers.  Then Matt will rotate it back so you can.

A few weeks ago, it accidentally got set.  But since it hasn’t been used in years, the alarm was set for midnight.

At midnight that sound went off like microphone feedback being broadcast through a town wide emergency broadcast system.  My heart raced with urgency.  Matt hopped out of bed and turned it off.  Unbeknownst to either of us, since in his years of using the alarm his habit was to turn it off and right back on, he reset the alarm for midnight again.  So the next night I was fast asleep.  Matt hadn’t come to bed yet.  The alarm blared is noxious noise, something you might hear while a pterodactyl tears prey apart.  I shot up in bed.  Fear racing in my heart.  Fear, anguish and anxiety are the combined emotions this sound inspires.

I was irate. (Note: I’m a pretty nice person, unless you wake me up before five in the morning.) I staggered from the bed, walked over to the alarm clock, and suddenly felt a sense of calm. The answer suddenly seemed so simple.  I unplugged the menace and threw it away.  Then I

got back into bed, laid down and smiled.  I fell asleep with that smile, and I swear I had the best sleep I’ve had in five years.  Matt was late for work, but he let the clock go out with the trash.  It hasn’t reappeared to haunt me.

It’s our first post of the New Year!  Is there something simple you can do to make your life a little better?  Is there an unnecessary object in your life that you can just trash?  I cannot quite express how good it felt to throw away that clock.  And it was such an obvious response to a little problem.

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