A difference 15 minutes could make

For most of my life, I was governed by the 15-minute rule. It was not taught by anyone nor was it passed down by my parents or any of my relatives. It was something that I came up with as a child and I have stuck with it thus far. And I don't know why. I didn't even know I had a rule until my friend complained "ME - you ALWAYS say it's 10 minutes!" Back then, I lived by the 10-minute rule. Whenever someone asked me something about how far something was or how long it would take me to do something - I'd always answer the same. 10 minutes. Somehow, somewhere along the years, I've changed it to 15 minutes.

My 15 minute rule is as follows:

Ask me where my parents live and I'll tell you that they're 15 minutes away from me.

Ask me how long it takes me to get ready in the mornings and I'll say 15 minutes.

Ask me how long it takes to get to church from my old apartment and I'll tell you 15 minutes.

When friends ask how far away I live, I tell them 15 minutes (if we're in the general NW area). Not 10, not 20 - it's 15.

Ask me how long I typically hit snooze in the mornings and I'll tell you that I snooze for 15 minutes. To be accurate, I snooze for 18 minutes. If you round it out, it's 20 minutes. My clock snoozes for 9 minutes each snooze and I typically snooze twice. I can't snooze once and three times is too much. Two is just the magic touch for me.

I am either early or late - I am rarely on time (Except for work. For some reason, I'm on time for work and late for everything else). If you ask, I'm either 15 minutes early or 15 minutes late.. most often, it's late. I'll be the first to admit that.

Recently, I had two appointments in the Cy-Fair area. One at a school and one at the district building. With appointments at places that you don't really go to often, you most often debate how long you should take to get ready and how long you should allow for driving time. Me - I just solve all my problems by saying "15 minutes." 15 minutes to get ready and 15 minutes to drive. Realistic, huh? Realistically without traffic, it IS possible to get to these places in 15 minutes - but when you factor in Houston traffic, that 15 minutes goes right out the window.

I decided to allow myself an EXTRA 15 minutes each to ensure that I get to wherever I'm going on time. When morning comes, I end up snoozing that 15 minutes out of fear that I will have ended up wasting 15 minutes of precious sleep.

Most mornings, I think about how much difference 15 minutes could make. When I'm late, I start thinking "If only I got up 15 minutes earlier. If only I left 15 minutes earlier." But when I'm early, I always think "Man, I could have stayed home and slept an extra 15 minutes."

So I wonder... how many of you out there are like me?