Breakfast Tea With a God

I tend to be an early riser. It isn’t something that I am proud of, or something that I am ashamed of. That is just the way it is.

It is possible that it is a genetic mutation. My grandmother was an early riser, but then raising three kids during the Depression would keep you pretty busy. I am not sure there would be enough hours in the day for you to get all of the work done. She would have to get the kids up, dressed, fed and out to school in the morning, get herself ready for work, work all day and come home to make supper, do the housework, laundry, help the kids with homework, do the gardening and entertain the kids until bed time. This is also before all of those handy electronic toys that make our lives so much more tolerable. Is it any wonder the woman would get up early?

I can remember Saturday and Sunday morning at the cottage waking up to Gram banging two pots together and yelling “Time to wake up! Half the day is gone!” When my family stumbled out of bed, we discovered it was 7:00 AM. The crazy old broad had been up since 4:30 or 5:00.

I think I wake up early because I did so for most of my adult working life. It seems that for some unexplained reason, the Post Office felt it was important for the customers to get their mail as early as possible. We wouldn’t want those bills and ad mail being late now would we? I came to appreciate the smell and look of early mornings. It was almost as if you had the world to yourself for those few hours when everyone else was snuggled up in their beds. There were a number of occupations that were going to work at about the same time of day, and we would all give each other that nod of approval when passing each other.

I can remember staying with a couple of friends in Toronto once, and one morning I got up, made myself a cup of tea and was reading my book thinking I was alone in the house. John came down the stairs at about 8:00 AM and I thought how nice that he took today off to spend the day with me. It was totally uncalled for and unexpected, but nice. It turns out that he didn’t start work until 9:00 and this was his normal routine. We had a nice chat while he had his went through his morning routine and I waved goodbye like the dutiful homemaker when he left for work. I went back to my second cup of tea and started reading my book again when Karen came down the stairs. It was about 9:00 and I figured that she must have had today off of work. You would think I would be used to being wrong by now, but it took me by surprise when she told me that she didn’t start work till 9:30 or 10:00AM. What?

It isn’t my fault and I am not totally stupid, but as God is my witness I just assumed that everyone started work at 6:30 or 7:00. Well, at least everyone that I knew did. When Karen left for work I couldn’t get comfortable, I kept my eye on the stairs wondering who or what might make their way down to share a cup of tea. There are some odd Gods and Goddesses in that house and although I am not averse to having breakfast tea with a God, I was a little embarrassed that I was reading a trashy Sci-fi book instead of some mind expanding treatise on self improvement.

This blog started to be about the birds that were feasting on the back lawn after I had watered this afternoon and how they got to sleep in and still have a full belly. You know, it turns out that we had quite a rainstorm this evening and I didn’t even have to water the lawn at all. I guess because of the storm, the birds will get their fill first thing in the morning and by afternoon I will be washing the remnants of their breakfast off of the lawn chairs. I might suggest to the worms that are left tomorrow (late morning) that getting up early for them might not be the smartest thing to do. I doubt they will listen because some grandma worm will be beating a couple of pots together at 7:00AM yelling “Time to wake up! Half the day is gone!”