A few days ago my wife woke me up. It was nearly 7:30 a.m.

I have been retired for eight years and there was nothing specific that had to be done that day, but I felt a bit slothful. Sleeping in like that has never been part of my adult life… until recently.

Oh, I remember being a kid and sleeping until 8:30 or 9:00 on a summer morning. With a houseful of children I imagine our mother enjoyed those rare moments of peace on a quiet summer morning when we kids slept late.

Back in those days I liked to stay up late and sometimes fought sleep. You could say I was resisting a rest.

During school months, however, Mom did not tolerate slothfulness. She was up way before the rest of us and did not hesitate to interrupt our slumber. I don’t remember having a problem rolling out of bed in those days; never late for the bus or school.

During my college experience I carried a full load of classes, worked about 30 hours a week and attempted to maintain a social life. Lectures usually made me sleepy but the most challenging situation was a music appreciation class, immediately after lunch, where we often listened to classical music. The instructor was an excellent teacher but a few minutes after he set the tone arm on a vinyl record I was out like a light.

When I began working fulltime I had to be ready to work by 7 a.m. That decent starting hour ended a few weeks into the job when the boss assigned me to the sign-on shift at the radio station. We signed on at 6 a.m. but my duties included stopping first at the police and fire stations to pick-up any overnight news and then turn on the transmitter, make a large pot of coffee, select records for a one-hour sign-on country music program, rip the long continuous overnight newswire feed and write any local news for the 6 a.m. sign-on news. To do all that I had to get up by 4 a.m.

This would have been easier were I not single and had a glimmer of a social life. I learned to operate on just a few hours of sleep, a couple of NoDoz™ (caffeine tablets) with breakfast and a continuous supply of coffee.

I remember being a party-pooper back then; by 10 p.m. I had trouble staying awake.

When I moved across town to the local daily newspaper I could sleep in until 5 a.m. but had to work until 10 or 11 p.m. a few nights each week.

Finally, I got a job in advertising sales which provided office hours but I still woke up between 4 and 5 a.m. This allowed plenty of time to shower and shave and read the morning newspaper; I just could not sleep late.

For the rest of my career I was an early riser and often the first one in the office. I got a lot of work done before anyone else arrived and before the phones started ringing. I seldom needed an alarm clock during those years.

The “early-riser” problem continued after I retired but I’m cautiously proud to share that I’m on the mend.

In spite of occasionally still feeling a bit slothful I can now sleep until 6 a.m. or so. I’m learning that I can doze for a little while without feeling guilty. (It’s a fact, you know, that taller people sleep longer in bed.) And I can sometimes even go back to sleep while I’m dozing which is what happened a few days ago.

Medicos claim most healthy older adults age 65 or older need 7-8 hours of sleep each night to feel rested and alert. For the first time in my life I am actually getting enough sleep.

Age-related sleep disorders, however, can cut that 7-8-hour time short. I figure that problem can be remedied by an after-lunch nap which is something I haven’t embraced yet. I’m sure the day will come.

(I saw an ad in the newspaper recently promoting a paid clinical study that requires an hourlong nap every day for six months. I suspect that would be a dream job. Pun intended.)

So, after a career spanning 47 years and now eight years of retirement I’m finally getting enough sleep.

I have to say, these days sleep is coming much easier. I can do it with my eyes closed.