real times

I usually carpool with the same 2-4 people, but yesterday I was supposed to carpool with a different friend whose cubicle is next to mine. 

I warned her last week that I have to be in very early - by 8 am - and that she might not want to carpool with me as a result, because I know that she sometimes doesn't get there until 9. She said 8 was fine, so we arranged that I would park at her house and she would drive the hour to work.

The night before, she texted to ask what time I would be by.

"7:55," I said.

It wasn't until 6:45, on my way over to her apartment, that I realized my mistake.

"I meant 6:55!" I texted. "On my way!"

Needless to say, she wasn't ready when I got there.

I have a brain block about times before 7 am. I know, logically, that I get up at 5:30 and I meet my carpool at 6:45. But are those real times? I'm not sure they are. I only know that the alarm goes off when it goes off (my phone is set to M-F), and when the big hand gets to a certain point on the clock, I need to leave the house. 

The fact that I get up before 6 am? The fact that I am in someone else's car before 7 am? 

That is impossible, because those aren't real times. The real times that are really morning start with the number 7 or later.