I used to work at 5 am. I would get up at 4:30 am, to go to work, and was only ever late a few times due to other circumstances. I don't know if I could do it anymore, and it required prep, having everything laid out and ready to go, but I did it for years.

For hubs, getting ready quick is a no go, transitions are hard for him, so I bake in an hour of getting ready if he's going.

@RickiTarr My idea of "early" has changed radically as I've gotten older and my body's changed. 5 AM is early to me now. I can rarely sleep past about 6:30 under any circumstances.

Twenty years ago I would have been physically ill getting up at that time of the day (and often was, on the days I had to travel).

@RickiTarr
I am from a family of early risers.
I normally prefer to sleep until 7 (or even 8!) but standing up at 6 and finding my mother had already had breakfast was normal.

Staying at friends, especially long sleepers, sometimes felt really bizarre to me. I would also be grumpy and disoriented if I slept until noon.

And of course it is weird to be at another person's place when they are all asleep for another 4-6 hours.

@RickiTarr

One hour is all I need to get ready comfortably before work. Anytime before that one hour is early. This includes normal days where I'm at work at 7.30am or days where I'm only needed to go in at 12.30pm.

Weird but normal for many I feel.

@RickiTarr

My early (on weekends) is anytime before noon. Therefore, allow me to express all my solidarity with your husband!

I am not a morning person, far from it, so it takes a solid 45 minutes for me to look presentable.

And the very latest time-related misunderstanding between me and Love of my life is this morning.

@RickiTarr my opinion of early is admittedly warped, I regularly have to be at work at 5 or 5:30am.

To me at this point in my life
5 to 7am is early morning
7 to 9am is midmorning
10am to noon is late morning

My partner disagrees and we've had some similar experiences yours, where he says "let do this early" and I'm up raring to go at 6am but he means 9am.

@RickiTarr I work shifts and my definition of "early" shifts through almost 24 hours on a 3 week cycle. In general it means "fuck up my schedule and rely on caffeine/melatonine combo because I have a doc appointment scheduled fml".

My "normal" sleep cycle (which I found out when I was on sick leave for a year) is about 1am-9am, maybe 2 to 10. Waking up at 4 am for the morning shift is bad enough that I sometimes take a nap after work and then stay up later instead of going to bed at 8pm. Esp in the summer. I'm tired enough after work and lunch that I can just take a nap, but it's no good going to bed with the sun shining through multiple layers of shades straight on my bed until 10 pm...

@RickiTarr Early used to be 6am. Since my wife retired, early is now around 9am.

If we don't have to exceed basic levels of presentability, we can be out the door in 15 minutes. Looking "nice" takes longer.

@RickiTarr “Early” depends upon the sun.

If it’s just up, it’s early. If it’s been up an hour, it’s normal. 2-3 hours and it’s late.

So yes, “early” flexes over the course of a year. So does “late” in the evening.

Would fricking love it if we all collectively decided that sunlight dictated seasonal work hours. Damn artificial lighting.

@RickiTarr
The Navy taught me that if I was less than fifteen minutes early, I was late

Thus, I've had a tendency to be a half-hour or more early, which has served me well a few times when traffic or bad directions would cause me to show right on time

Then I acquired a spouse and children... I quickly learned that I will get there when I get there; though now I am the official time-keeper, and can dictate a departure time of my liking

Which means I add an hour to whatever time I feel I need to depart by

@RickiTarr 0430 is a standard wake up for me, gives me time to take the dog out before work at 6. He's a German shepherd pitbull mutt, and is a nuisance all day if the poor guy doesn't get to go out for some fun.

Sleeping in is 0600. Getting ready can be nearly instant. For work, just like you, I have everything laid out- clothes, gear, lunch, gone. Otherwise, I keep all my shit in a murse- shoes, water bottle, sunglasses, hat, murse, gone. I do like to loaf, browse masto, and intentionally get ready slowly though, a leftover from when I commuted via motorcycle in heavy traffic. Had to make sure I was 100% alert before going out.

Mrs. Trout is very similar- she takes a while to get ready but plans ahead so when it's time to go she's been ready for half an hour. She's incredibly anxious about being on time, whereas I don't stress about being late if something happens. I'm only always on time because being reliable means a lot to me, but same goals for us both.

@RickiTarr I sleep about 4–5 hours a night and then I’m ready to go. Like, wide awake, no more sleep needed, LET'S DO THIS!

@KevBot, on the other hand, would probably sleep in until noon on a weekend if he could.

As a compromise, our weekend days "start" at 9am so I wake up naturally around 5am and try to be as quiet as possible, either reading on my kindle or rambling on the internet, but when 9am hits, I’m allowed to shout "IT'S SATURDAYYYYY!!!!" and run around the room like an idiot.

@RickiTarr I am *not* a morning person. I generally don’t sleep well, and when I do get it up it will take me an hour or more (and a big mug of tea) to feel at all sociable. I don’t understand folks like my spouse who can roll out of bed with a song in their heart and bluebirds flying around their head like a Disney cartoon.

On a weekend the earliest I will commit to is 10am. I may wake up sooner, but I won’t be fit for the company of others (including my spouse) before then.

@RickiTarr

Most of my adultness, I would be up around 06:30 because kids or work. These days, and I truly have no idea whether it's just my advancing age, or conceivably a post-COVID viral fatigue thing, but I am ALWAYS tired. Crash around 22:00 on a work night, up around 08:00, and napping during the work day when there's little to do. On the weekend, I normally still crash about 22:00, sleep a straight 12 hrs, and then read, doze, read, nap, until I absolutely have to get up about 14:00!