Rise UP! (In the A. M.)

Greetings to all of my internet friends and neighbors, delightful family who read this, and whoever happens to stop by.

People stop me on the street, and they say:

"Papa Pat, you are retired, and do not have to be anywhere in the morning. And your sweet and precious children, Kenneth and Alicia, don't have to be on the bus until  the hour of 8:30 AM.

Middle Schoolers Kenneth and Alicia

 "So why, pray tell, do you rise at 5:15 AM with your gift-from-God, happily-ever-after trophy wife Vanessa, the elegant, foxy, praying black grandmother of Woodstock, GA?"

Pat and Vanessa. (Not at 5:15 AM)

Okay, I lied about that. Nobody has EVER asked me that question, and Alicia said if they did, it would be weird and stalker-y.

But they might. It could happen. Really! And I have part of the answer.

By doing that, I am assured that my day will begin in peace, as I prepare ginger tea for the two of us, and we sit on the couch in the living room and talk about whatever we wish. Then, I escort her to her car, and we finish our morning ritual with sweet words, prayers, and kisses, out there in front of God, the neighbors, and everybody.

Now, here's what happens if I DON'T do that. (An Actual Case Study! Well, what happened this morning.)

After saying the last "Love You" in the driveway, I come back upstairs to do some work before I wake K & A. And if I had not already started my day with peace, my day would have started with discovering that my laptop did not recognize my mouse. And it didn't recognize the back up mouse. And it might have been a battery issue, but swapping out batteries didn't work, and I couldn't CHECK the battery because ONE of my multi-meters had gone missing, and in the other one....the battery was dead.

Now, at this point, all I have been successful in doing is opening a file. I have two (Mouses? Mice?) pointing devices taken apart, batteries on my desk, and I'm trying to decide if I want to remove the back of my second multi-meter to change batteries in it. It's time to wake up the kids. I have spent 45 minutes accomplishing: zip.

So, YOU be the judge. Is that the kind of start you want for your day? I think not! And because I had actually started it an hour and a half earlier, it wasn't the start of my day, just chapter two. And chapter two matters relatively little. Finish as you begin, they say. Or something.

Anyway.

Next week, I will talk to you about a bout with physical pain, which is unpleasant and inevitable, and some mental pain, which is a LOT worse, mostly because I did it to myself.

Peace be on your household.