Pre-Caffeine

7:46am and I so want to go back to bed. I'm so sick of my days revolving around sleep. It seems like I'm always either fighting to stay awake or fighting to go to sleep. I'm literally amazed at how some people can just say, "I'm going to sleep." then lay down and do just that! Jerry is usually out within five minutes! Five minutes! That just seems inhuman to me. I sincerely believed something was wrong with him until I learned that the average person falls asleep within seven minutes. That just leaves me with my jaw hanging open like a broken-hinge door.

Then there's those people who love mornings. You've seen them, those Morning People, who invade your work place, your school, your streets...maybe even your very own home! Their eyes open and POOF! just like that, they're not only awake, but also actually alert! And all this pre-caffeine! Those crazy Morning People jump right out of bed, sing and are already jabbering on to anyone with ears about what a beautiful morning it is and how great the day's going to be and blah blah blah. Which by the way, is exactly what we night owls hear when those morning people screech their morning voices at us: "Good morning! Isn't blahblahblah beautiful day blahblahblah! What a lovely blahblahblah!"

The most I can manage to pull off during pre-caffeine days are bumping into walls, tripping on animals and the occassional, "'Morning", "I'm up", "Coffee" and the versatile morning reply for everything and my personal favorite, "umph".

My own family's been infiltrated by those Morning People. My mom is one. My sister is one. Even in my own home! My husband and oldest son are Morning People! My husband is a convert though. He wasnt always a Morning Person. I remember well his night owl days. Oh what fun we'd have! We'd stay up all night watching TV, eating Doritos and drinking Mountain Dew. Most of our grocery shopping was done between midnight and 5:00am Now he's awake for the day around 5:00am...willingly! It's not his fault though. The work force drug him into his morning person-ness. I suppose getting up between 3:00 and 5:00am for the last 11 years or so has been what's caused his turning from Night Owl to Morning Person. I don't blame him or resent him for it though. I hear that it's actually common; that once a person wakes at the same time for a long length of time that it effects their "natural clock" and they tend to get used to it and even sometimes wake at that time with no alarm!

My natural clock must have dead batteries (just like all the battery-operated clocks in my house) because I've been getting up between 7:00 and 8:00am for the last 11-ish years and I have absolutely no desire to do that intentionally and I don't do it unintentionally on the weekends.

Now, Cory, he was born a Morning Person. My theory is that the Morning Person genes either skip a generation and hit randomly targeted people of the alternate generation, or perhaps he inherited them from my husband's then-dormant genes. Who knows.

Now that it's 8:10am and the morning caffeine if finally beginning to impenetrate my veins and my eyes are open a little more than just a slit and have been hit by the realization that I'm actually awake and not walking in the fog of a dream, I'm also realizing how long I've been rambling so I'll just say, for the record, I don't dislike or even resent the Morning People in my life. In fact, I love waking up to my son's bright eyes and smiling face. What a joy he is, even in the mornings.

And I'll close with just one final thought, just four words:

God
Bless
Juan
Valdez

Monday Madness
This week's questions are right off the top of my head; no rhyme or reason...

1. What was your biggest challenge this past week? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head was cleaning the outside of mom's camper at the lake while avoiding the spiders that were all over out there. ew.
2. What was your biggest accomplishment this past week? Avoiding those spiders! Except for that little one that was dangling from the rag I was using. ew.
3. What was the most exciting thing that happened in your life this past week? Mr. Bill gave Trey a hat and a poster autographed by a couple guys from Trick My Truck. I can't think of anything else lol
4. What one thing made you the happiest this past week? I got to spend quality "adult time" with my mom and sister and then got to come back home to Jerry and the kids who I missed so much.