i used to wake up to an alarm that sounded like an emergency evacuation inside a toaster. my boyfriend would shoot upright, i would reach for my phone, and we'd begin every morning with the energy of two people being accused of tax fraud. we agreed we needed a change. that agreement lasted until i showed him a sunrise alarm clock.
the Hatch Restore 3 combines a bedside light with alarm and sound features intended to support a wind-down and wake-up routine. the idea of a gradual light waking us up seemed pleasantly ordinary to me. my boyfriend said it sounded like importing the sun into our bedroom and demanded to know whether we would have to pay it rent.
i explained that it wasn't an actual star and wouldn't change the earth's rotation. he asked whether we could schedule a second sunrise on weekends because he liked sleeping late. then he proposed synchronizing it with a breakfast playlist and charging visitors for sunrise viewing. somehow the skeptic had become the creative director of our household's fake astronomy department.
we eventually settled on an ordinary goal: a calmer morning with fewer panicked phone alarms. my boyfriend still calls the device our miniature solar system. if we ever break up, i expect the custody dispute will be settled by whoever gets out of bed first.
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