I am truly amazed at how my morning rituals have changed over the past 20 years. I used to get up at 4AM to prepare breakfast and get our skater ready for patch lessons (figures, for those of you too young to remember). Sometimes I would drive him the 16 miles from the house to the rink; sometimes his coach would pick him up. In the winter, it was all skating stuff plus school bags, snow pants, hats gloves and the other accouterments necessary for life in the Colorado mountains.
When we relocated to the Springs, I would get up at 6AM, watch a snippet of news on TV, make breakfast and then go through the 20 minute "ritual" of waking my skater up for high school.
Before we became "empty nesters," I would wake up at 6:30AM, watch a snippet of news on TV, make breakfast, pack lunch and snacks for the day and spend 30 minutes knocking on the door to make sure he was up before I left for work.
Now, I wake up somewhere between 4 and 6AM. I don't watch the news anymore because it is depressing (especially as it pertains to my industry - hotels and hospitality). I make coffee and in the cool, darkness of the brew and pre dawn, I catch up with family and friends who are scattered to the corners of the earth. I look at photos, read postings, offer unsolicited advice (the luxury of social media!) to friends and now to strangers. There is something cathartic about it. There is something connecting about it. I know I look forward to my moments of solitude while I sit at the screen with a room full of great friends. It's a pajama party of sorts. Thanks for coming!
Anyone want coffee?
Coffee indeed!! I'm glad to know that there's another kid who requires 20 minutes (or more) of shaking, knocking, threatening, etc, to be actually gotten out of bed, although mine isn't a skater. I am glad you're enjoying the solitude; it must be a bit of a weird transition after all these years, although I know everyone's been ready to get to this stage for a while.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, I know this drill. The knocking and the shaking and the sweet voice that eventually starts to get louder and shriller on the repeated travels back and forth down the hall. To my relief, RT has been dragging himself out for a few years now, bedraggled and yawning, to slump off to his car for the 45-min commute to his college. We'll see if MT can wake himself for his crack-of-dawn 11 am college classes, which start Monday. Raise a cup of coffee to independent risers!
ReplyDeleteLove the blog! It's great!