The Early Birds...

At some point over the years, as I aged and matured and acquired a taste for vegetables, I started waking up earlier and earlier in the morning.  Even before we had a baby the writing was on the wall. In fact, I think we only had a kid so that we'd have an excuse not to go out on the weekends.

But last Sunday things got a little ridiculous. We were up before seven like always, I was in the living room, sipping coffee when, I noticed some dog hair on the couch. And then even more underneath the couch. Suddenly I was up, ready to take on the day. My wife’s face lit up as I dragged in the vacuum (trust me, I know how lame this sounds) and just like that we were cleaning. Like, really cleaning. I lifted the couch up and she vacuumed underneath it.

But that wasn’t all. Our son got in on the action, and then my wife appeared with the mop, all excited and crazy eyed. I moved some plants outside. Things got out of control. We were a pot of coffee short of grabbing the sledge hammer and opening up the wall. Then we took a deep breath.

It was 7:30 AM

While the rest of the neighborhood slept peacefully, our living room was turned upside down while our son yelled in attempt to mimic the sound of the vacuum cleaner, a very high pitched, ear piercing vacuum cleaner.

I never imagined such circumstances. I plant things. I buy stain. Thinking about buying a rain barrel really gets my juices flowing. Our house rises with the sun, lunchtime often feels like suppertime, and by evening time, the morning seems like yesterday. We start off strong, all of us, but after dinner, by 8 o’clock our house starts gearing down. You can feel it. Even the dogs take their spots, and a yawning competition ensues.

Boring? Sure, for some. But I like things the way they are. There was a time when I would go to bed at 6am, sometimes not at all. I was young and restless and blah blah blah. I’d sleep until noon and do it all again. These days if I want to see the sunrise, I don’t have to stay up for it. I can just go outside and watch it with my family.