Wake up call

I’ve been using my cell phone as an alarm clock for the past three, maybe four years. It has been reliable at getting me up throughout classes, exams, student teaching, and work up until this morning.

My cell phone has a setting that allows you to program in three times, three different alarms, a feature that I really enjoy. The first alarm is for fajr, the early morning prayer. This morning, like clockwork (pun intended), my alarm went off a few minutes before the imam from the masjid next door called the 30 minute wake up fajr athan (call to prayer), helping get people up and out of their beds and giving them time to get dressed and to the mosque for prayer. After praying and climbing back into bed I remember looking at my cell phone, checking and double checking to make sure the alarm was set.

I have a thing about punctuality. I hate (I hate the word hate but in this case it’s fitting) being late or having people wait on me. Because of that, I am almost always the first person on our morning bus to school and have the job of knocking on the van door to gently wake our driver while he takes a short nap.

My second two alarms are always set for a few minutes before 6; I shower at night and look forward to getting in a little sleep after fajr. The first alarm goes off at 5:57 AM. 5:55 just looks too early and 5:58 makes me feel too rushed. The second is always set for 6:00, as a backup just in case I am feeling really sleepy or a warning to get going if I am being sluggish and taking my time getting ready.

This morning my wake up call came from my very unique bird chirping doorbell. Jumping out of bed I ran to the door and heard one of the teacher’s voices saying “Rebecca, are you ok?” I shouted yes and that I must have overslept. She said to not worry and that she was glad I was safe. The people on the bus were not mad about waiting 7 minutes past our usual departure but rather relieved that nothing had happened to me.

That morning wake up call came at 6:37. I quickly did wudu (washing your body in preparation for prayer), threw on some clothes and a bit of makeup, brushed my teeth, ironed and put on my hijab and was out the door by 6:50. I went out to the street where normally every other car that goes by is a taxi. This morning there wasn’t a taxi in sight. I walked/ran about a third of the way to school until I found a taxi. As I got in I breathed a sigh of relief and checked my watch. 6:56.

Alhamdulillah I was able to communicate with the driver, giving directions to the school (left and right) with my hands and didn’t hit any traffic. I walked in the gates of school at 7:00. A mere 15-18 minutes past when the bus normally drops me off but not too bad for getting a very late start.

I just downloaded a free alarm clock to my desktop that allows me set a song to wake up to. I selected one of my favorites from my nasheed cd (thanks to Sania) and have tested it three times just to be sure... let's hope this hectic morning was a a one time thing, inshAllah.

Countdown update: three days until my 14 hour flight to DC and then one and a half hour flight to Bradley, inshAllah. Yikes, I need to start packing.