Good Morning

There are people I know who wake up without alarms. Dan, Antonio, my mother, my mother in law… these people all wake up without any outside help. Granted, I woke up Antonio this morning by accidentally dropping the cat on him, but USUALLY he wakes up without my help.

For me, waking up is a chore. I can fall asleep at 7 pm the night before, and I will still sleep in until someone or something finally wakes me up the next day. On Sunday, we had church at 10:30am. I conduct the music. During these Covid times, I lead and sing with my mask on of course, but I still love singing the hymns on Sunday morning.

I got a new phone. Well, not a new phone. What happened is we got Dan a phone because of his diabetes and Covid19. We were going to wait until he was 14, but I was sick of him using my phone for google duo calls with friends and relatives, and because he got Diabetes, we felt sorry for the kid and decided it was time for him to have a phone. I also got a new phone because I was using a phone I got from my dad 3 years ago. When the phones arrived, I realized that Dan had the nicer phone. I was jealous. This weekend, I traded phones with Dan because I wanted the nicer phone. I’m the mom. I get the cool phone.

Saturday night, I set the alarm on my new phone. Sunday morning, the alarm did not go off at 9 am. Here’s what happens when you expect an alarm to go off. Until it goes off, you just assume it’s not 9 am. I just kept sleeping. I’d toss a little and turn, but then I’d think, “Self, it is before 9 am. You should let yourself sleep.” And I would listen to myself and go back to sleep, although by that time, my dreams were a little wonky.

Finally, I checked the phone and noticed it was 10:30am. I missed my chance to lead the music.

This made me very sad.

Yesterday, Antonio woke up early, because he likes mornings, and took care of Dan and got him off to school. I rolled out of bed in time to get downstairs to the office with a bra on. I did NOT have time to shower. It would have been better if I had taken the time to shower. I got so much sleep, but I felt like poo.

I woke up late because again, no alarm.

Last night, I went to bed super early because I was tired and grumpy. I decided to practice setting the alarm. I would set it for 9:15, 9:30, 10pm…It never went off. Finally I asked my phone, “Google, why won’t my alarm work?” Google gave me an answer. I fixed the phone.

(Is my saga boring you? Probably.)

This morning, MY ALARM WENT OFF!! I woke up to Arcade Fire music, followed by a recitation of the weather and the news! I listened to more Arcade Fire as I woke up the little boy. I made him a healthy breakfast. We had a delightful conversation where I asked him to “Please clean out your cat’s litter box while I make breakfast.”

He responded, “I will, but you don’t have to yell!”

I replied, “I’m not yelling, I’m speaking firmly so you will understand that this is something I don’t want to argue about.”

For the rest of the morning he yelled everything and when I asked him to stop yelling he would say, “I’m not yelling, I’m speaking firmly!”

Over and over and over again.

I don’t care how wonderful it was to wake up to music, I still hate mornings. And as this child gets closer and closer to being a teenager, I’m afraid my eyes are going to roll up into my head from sheer exasperation.

Despite all that, I love how it feels to actually start my day on my terms. I feel more in control of my life. And I feel clean because I showered. Showering is good.