Why does it seem when I have time to sleep late, I open my eyes early and wide awake, but when I have to get up, all I want to do is stay comfortable in my bed?

     This is the time of the year when that question comes to mind more often. It happened again during the past couple of days.

     On Saturday, that day I work late at the LEADER on the Sunday morning paper, I awoke around 8 a.m. I couldn’t go back to sleep, although I did catch a nap later during the football games.

     However, Tuesday morning, as a cold snap was moving through the area, I was warm in the bed when the alarm clock went off and I really didn’t want to get up. I hit the snooze button as many times as I reasonably could before finally leaving my comfy confines.

     I’ve always tended to be a late-night person and tried to get caught up on my sleep on the weekends. My friends in the health care field would probably tell me that’s not the best approach, but it has been my life pattern.

     I’m finding, though, that as I get older, I’m not able to sleep as late as I once could.

     By the way, by caught up and late, I mean 10 or 11 a.m. and sometime even noon. For some of my real early riser friends, late to them could be 7:30 or 8 a.m.

     Needing to be at work most days by 7:30 a.m., my internal clock has created a daily setting of around 6:15 or so for me to awake.

     Unless I’ve just been bone-tired from the night before, my internal alarm goes off typically sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. This has been good during the week, as it had helped make me seldom late for work, but it’s not too much fun on the weekends and other days off.

     Some may think if I consider myself a night person that I should work the evening or midnight shift somewhere. That’s definitely not the case.

     In fact, that The DAILY LEADER is one of the few remaining afternoon papers is one of many reasons I’ve enjoyed working in Brookhaven so many years. There have been many evening assignments during my time of course, but the work for the most part is done during the day.

     My lone adventure with a midnight shift was for about a week during the Christmas holidays while I was in high school and working at the A&P in Vicksburg. It was not fun.

     During that week, I helped stock the shelves with the goods and also served as the overnight cashier.

     (And by the way, speaking as someone who’s been on both sides of the grocery scanner, those folks who do the week’s worth of shopping for the family of five at 1 a.m. really clog up the checkout operation. There’s typically no help for the cashier and that customer who came in just for a drink and pack of smokes gets highly annoyed having to wait.)

     Anyway, for those who get into a routine of working throughout the night, I’m sure the midnight shift is no big deal. I’m just not sure I could ever get used to it.

     After my week on the midnight shift, I remembering feeling “off” for a couple of days afterward.

     I may enjoy sleeping well into the day whenever I can. I just don’t want to be going to bed when the sun’s coming up.

     That’s all for now.

     Write to Managing Editor Matthew Coleman at P.O. Box 551, Brookhaven MS 39602, or send e-mail to mcoleman@dailyleader.com.