My alarm went off at six in the morning. I know that’s not early for a lot of people, but it is for me. Despite working full-time for a month, I still wasn’t able to get up this early easily.

I hit the snooze button without even opening my eyes.

The alarm went off five minutes later. I snoozed it again, shoving my phone under my pillow to muffle the sound the next time it would go off.

I’ve used the alarm on my phone for over two years now, ever since the plug-in alarm clock I had died.

I could hear the alarm even through the pillow, which, rationally, I knew was a good thing. I didn’t want to be late, I just didn’t want to get out of bed yet.

I used to have a phone with three alarms. At night, before going to sleep, I used to make sure all three were set. One with the time I wanted to get up, which I would invariably snooze through for twenty minutes, one with the time I needed to get up, and one with the time I needed to leave to avoid being late.

Since I switched phones, I’ve had to make due with only one alarm. I set it for the time I’d like to get up, so I can snooze for a while. It makes me feel like I’m getting a little extra sleep, even though it’s disrupted sleep and therefore not restful or good for me at all, according to my sister who yells at me whenever I mention snoozing.

Keep eyes closed. Hit alarm. Snooze.

The only time I can ever just wake up is if I have some sort of event or special activity planned. When I have a morning flight, even if I’ve only had two hours of sleep, I will wake up and be ready to go in just a few minutes. Plenty of time to sleep on the flight. But apparently work isn’t an important enough occasion.

My mind was awake at this point, but my eyes were still heavy. I knew I needed to get up, to get ready. Luckily, I plan for this and usually set out the clothes I’ll wear the night before. Or at least have them in mind.

My alarm went off again, and I managed to roll out of bed, pull on some clothes, and make my way to the bathroom. Hair and teeth brushed, sleep out of my eyes, phone, keys, wallet. I made my way to my car. Fifteen minutes to the Metro, but at one of the lights I needed to get my phone out of my bag to finally dismiss the alarm instead of snoozing it.

I managed to find a parking space on the second level of the garage, a rarity at this time. Usually I have to go to the third floor. But the space was pretty tight. The car on the left was parked in its space, but the SUV on the right was pulled right up on the white line.

I got my bag and started to the Metro entrance. While I’d had a surge of energy to get me to the Metro, I was already fading back to sleep. I picked up the Express newspaper and waited at the gate for my SmarTrip to scan. I’d been having problems with it for the last few months. It took a long time to register with the gate. It caused me to miss trains on too many occasions, but right now my mind was too foggy to really care.

Once I got through, I went up the escalator, walked to the last car of the train so I could get off only a few feet from the escalators at my destination stop, sat in a seat facing forward, and rested my head against the window of the car, my newspaper a thin barrier between my face and the cold plastic.

I fell back to sleep before the train left, knowing I would be a few minutes late, and hoping I would wake up before my stop.