“There is nowhere morning does not go.”
Last night I tossed and turned for hours. I stopped looking at the clock. It was depressing to see the time pass. Finally I felt into a restless sleep. I couldn’t get comfortable and kept waking up to rearrange myself. Henry wanted out around eight so I went downstairs and let him out then crawled back into bed hoping to fall asleep. I did and didn’t wake up until close to 12:30. I had my coffee and read the Globe. That was my morning. It is now my afternoon.
When I was a kid, I hated being forced to go to bed. Some mornings I hated being woken up for school. I remember my mother used to shout up the stairs to get us awake. We’d try to ignore her, but that never worked. We’d slowly make our way downstairs to the kitchen. Breakfast was usually on the table. It was sometimes cereal, hot or cold, sometimes a soft boiled egg with cut toast for dunking and other times it was just toast and cocoa.
When I was in college, I hated early morning classes. Sometimes I’d sleep through them and miss one. Other times I’d get to class, but I’d nod off and only catch myself when my head would droop. Back then I was a night person.
In Ghana I turned into an early morning person. My bedtimes were never late. There was no TV to watch so I’d read a bit before turning off the light. I think I was in bed by nine. Roosters often woke me up, but if they didn’t, the students did. They swept the compound every morning and I heard the swishing outside my window. I didn’t mind as the mornings were my favorite time of the day.
On my trips back to Ghana, old habits surfaced quickly. I was in bed early after reading a while. The only difference was I read my iPad instead of a book. A rooster crowed outside my window most mornings and woke me up. That gave me smile.
At a store in Hyannis, I bought a wooden rooster which crows when you press its head down. The sound is exactly a rooster. I let the rooster crow just about every morning. I love that toy.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
September 21, 2018 at 3:29 pm
I went out for the paper at 5:30. There were dueling hoot owls across the street–one would start and the other would join in.
Much cooler today. Time to close up the pool for another year.😢
September 21, 2018 at 4:10 pm
Bill,
I would love to have heard those owls. I can’t remember the last time I heard one.
5:30? That seems so much like the middle of the night.
I am going to take the back screen door off and put the storm on. I leave the door open for Henry, and it is chilly.
September 21, 2018 at 3:30 pm
We’re having a storm here right now but I notice very little of it since my neighbors cottage and garage takes most of the wind.I did notice the torrential rain though but it didn’t last for long. I think it was the thunder I heard because they said we would have it but I’m not sure, the rain made too much noise to let me hear anything else 🙂 🙂
I’ve always been an early morning person and I feel that the chance for me to change that are slim to none now 🙂 Nova is the only one here that tends to stay in bed longer if she gets the chance 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
September 21, 2018 at 4:13 pm
Christer,
I love a noisy rain storm. Our last storm had plenty of thunder. Henry kept looking around wondering where the noise was coming from. At least he is not afraid of it.
I’m with Nova. The problem is I go to sleep at an ungodly hour then wake up late then can’t get to sleep early. It is a weird sleep cycle.
Have a wonderful Friday!
September 21, 2018 at 8:55 pm
Every kid hates his parent enforced bedtime. All the good TV shows came on after our bedtime, our parents had all the fun once we were tucked into bed. When I became a teenager I realized that there was nothing that different after our bedtime. Most of us as adults are sleep deprived most of the time. Life is way too hectic.
Our friends in tropical countries close their businesses at two, go home for lunch and a nap, then open up again for the evening. Was that a custom in Ghana?
My father told me that a good soldier can sleep anywhere and he must have been a good one. He could drop off to sleep at the drop of a hat. 🙂 When I was younger I could sleep ten or more hours without any problem. Today I am lucky to stay asleep eight hours.
Today was cooler, about a high in the upper 80s, with scattered showers. Same thing forecasted for tomorrow.
September 21, 2018 at 9:03 pm
Bob,
You’re right about people being sleep deprived. The one good thing for me is I can sell late in the morning now. When I worked, I was up at 5 or 5:15. If I didn’t get to bed early enough, I was tired the whole day.
In Ghana the post office closed from 12 to 2 but most everything else stayed open. They were really mostly small shops, almost kiosk like, so they needed to be open. My students had a mandatory time in their dorms for a couple of hours. Some slept while others did school work. Now nothing closes.
I read about methods taught to soldiers so they could grab a bit of sleep whenever they could. My body seems to need eight hours but in my younger days I slept six at best.
I just had to shut my back door as it is a chilly night. Tomorrow will be in the low 70’s.
September 21, 2018 at 9:13 pm
It seems like the sound of a broom would make a nice alarm clock.
September 21, 2018 at 9:56 pm
Rowen,
The only problem was they swept way too early. I would hear the swish outside my window. They swept the dirt.