An English Muffin for Thought: Can I Have Seconds? Another Slice of Life

Waking up this morning was a struggle. As the battle raged on between my consciousness and unconsciousness, I simply hit the snooze button on my phone's alarm. But after five minutes, my phone's bird chirping alarm scared me awake one more time. I clicked on that beautiful snooze button and thus provided the ammunition for my unconsciousness to win the battle. Five minutes later, my day began. But not of my own volition.

My alarm did go off, but that was not what finally got me out of bed. It was my Argos. What's an Argos? A furry, lively, drooly backup alarm who is more affectionately known as a man's best friend. This morning I wouldn't exactly call him my best friend. How does an Argos wake someone up? Well, it starts with a shake, then a hop, followed by a shower of puppy love. He sleeps on the tiles in our bathroom. We sometimes try to make him sleep on the bed with us because he's so fuzzy and warm but... he is too fuzzy and too warm. So the bed is not comfortable to him for a long period of time.
Hearing my phone's alarm, he trotted out of the bathroom adjacent to our room and shook his fur which provided us a brief warning for the next step. He hopped into our bed, inspected us to see if we were sleeping, and lied down--always with his head on my stomach. He licked my hand--checked to see if I was awake--and licked my hand again. The cycle repeats until someone wakes up.
In all honesty, he is a God-send. I can stop my phone from making noises, but I can't stop my puppy. And just like every morning, I got up from bed, put on some outside clothes, and took Argos to the restroom.

And so consciousness wins this battle. But I look into Argos' eyes and I don't miss my sleep. Not one bit.