But where are the grandchildren?

It's dark these days when I wake up. In the rhythm of the semester, I seem to have found my equilibrium - early to bed, early to rise. I don't get much done at night (never) have and I've tried to listen more and more to my internal clock, my internal warnings. I do that during exercise, for eating, for drinking, why should I fight it any more for sleeping? But I watch askance as the minutes drift slowly backward - will it stop? First it was 7:30, 7:15, 6:30 - the sun in the windows on clear days was too bright, too warm, too inviting. I seemed pretty set around 6:30 for a couple of months but suddenly, inexplicably now in the darkening morning gloom of autumn, I am waking up earlier and earlier. And, as a result, going to bed earlier too. Today wins because today, for the first time, I accepted it and didn't force myself to go back to sleep or wait until "a decent hour". Today was 5:27. I am officially an old person.