I HEART...The Crack O' Dawn

 

Everybody loves Wednesday, right?

The week's half over.  The weekend is on the way.

What's not to love?

Each Wednesday, I want to share something with you

that I absolutely love and can't live without! 

 

This may be my most controversial blog post yet.  I'm expecting to get lots of (critical) comments from people close to the source (my husband, my parents, my old college roomates...) who may claim to have evidence to the contrary, but it's true.  I  HEART...my early morning "ME" time.  I will admit it.  This wasn't always the case.  But over the last couple of years, I have really come to enjoy my quiet time in the morning before everyone else gets up.

 

 

I used to be more of a night owl when I was younger...and single.  But since having kids, there just doesn't seem to be enough daylight to get things done.  I decided a couple of years ago to start getting up earlier in order to have time to read my Bible, pray and plan my day.  Once I figured out how to set the timer on the coffee pot, my plan was ready for testing.  It wasn't easy at first.  I hit the alarm several times.  (OK - sometimes I still do.)  Sometimes I fell asleep while praying.  But after a few weeks, I began to find my rhythm.

 

Side story here.  I'll get it out there before Gerald does.  When we first married, I had a black cat named "Punkin".  She was about 8 years old.  Gerald was working from home a lot then, and he would often call me complaining that the cat was stalking him.  (What he doesn't know is that she would tell me the same thing when I got home in the evenings!)  In the beginning, he would refer to her as his (evil) step-kitty.  They finally became friends, and developed a pretty tight relationship.  If my alarm went off first in the morning, she stayed wherever she was.  (She knew I would hit snooze a few times.)  But when his went off, she would come running and jump on his chest, ready to play!  Man would she be surprised now!

 

Now, I look forward to getting up and having that time to myself.  The coffee pot is set to come on at 5:20 am so the coffee is nice and hot when I get up at 5:30.  With daylight savings time, the sun is just about up by then, but believe it or not, I like it better when it's dark outside.  I feel a little sneakier then...like I'm the only one in the world up and doing my thing.  Like I'm really getting a jump on the day.  I guess I could set my clock for 5am in order to rise under the cloak of darkness...but there's no need to get crazy here!

 

Since we started homeschooling, I have allowed the kids to sleep a little later since they don't have the old hour drive to school.  They have gotten in the habit of sleeping until about 7:00 or 7:15, and are then forced to eat a quick breakfast, get dressed and rush to the dining room for school!  While they enjoyed it for a while, they have begun to complain that they don't have any time to watch TV or play their iPod or see their Daddy before he leaves for work...  Seems like it has taken them a lot less time than me to learn the secret of early risers.  The secret?  Get up early and you have more time in your day.  Who knew?

So it's not about getting up earlier than your friends.  I know I have some nut-job friends out there who actually get up earlier than me and then go out and (gulp) exercise.  I'm not there yet.  Maybe never will be.  But I have come to appreciate my quiet time in the morning.  Especially now that we are homeschooling and I have the kids with me 24/7.  (And wouldn't have it any other way!)  If you're not an early riser, try it.  And then try it again.  It may take a while.  But just pretend you're the only person in the world who is up and see if you don't enjoy it a little more.

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I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

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