Day 2 - Morning

I am not a morning person. I never have been. No matter how early I go to bed, I cannot greet the morning joyfully. On Saturdays, I will actually sleep until morning is nearly over and start my day at lunchtime. But during the week, I do not get this luxury. I have to get up and head off to work. 

My day generally starts with the sound of Jeff’s alarm going off. I bury my head under the blankets and pillows to drown out the lights and sounds as he gets himself up and ready for the day. I neither know nor care what time it is, only that it’s too early for me. Once he’s dressed, he heads downstairs where he takes the dogs out and feeds them and then makes oatmeal for himself. I, on the other hand, roll over and go back to sleep now that it’s quiet in the room again. 

Much too soon for my liking, the room is filled with the sound of some over-played pop song. It is now 7:04 and my alarm is going off. Without opening my eyes, I reach over and slap the snooze button and drift back off to sleep. Exactly nine minutes later, the music returns, this time playing a different song. Again, I hit the snooze and relish the quiet. Another nine minutes, another new song, another slap of the snooze button. By now, Jeff has left for work and both the dogs have returned to the bedroom and are snoring away on the bed next to me, their warm bodies adding to the coziness of the blankets that want to keep me trapped within its folds. I’m aware that I will need to be getting up soon and can’t quite drift off so much as lay quietly and wait. When the clock hits 7:31 and the radio kicks on again (this time to the sound of the deejays discussing the traffic or the weather), I finally give in and turn on the lamp that sits on my bedside table. I take a few minutes to check Instagram and try to remember what today’s photo prompt is. 

When I finally manage to extract myself from my tangle of blankets and furry cuddlebugs, I face the age-old question: What should I wear today? But I can’t take too long to decide because “Stump the Jock” is issuing from my radio, a warning that if I’m not heading out the door in the next 10 minutes, I’m going to be late. I grab something comfortable and somewhat fitting to whatever I anticipate the weather outside to be and throw it on while Bruce Murdock tries to prove why he is called “Mr. Smarty Pants.” Then it’s into the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth. I spritz on a bit of perfume and grab my Origami Owl necklace, run back into my room to get my phone off the charger, and head downstairs. 

It takes my stomach even longer to wake up than I do, so I skip breakfast and grab something from the kitchen for my lunch. Then I put the gate up (to keep naughty noses from getting into the garbage) and grab a couple of dog treats. As I gather my coat and purse, double checking that my kindle is inside, Henry and Lucy sit patiently behind me waiting for their good-bye treat. I give them their treats and tell them “I will be home soon”, and “please be good and don’t destroy the house”, and “Lucy, please use the puppy pad if you have to pee” and “Henry, take care of the house”, and “mommy loves you both.” Then, carrying my purse, coat, and my daily dose of guilt for leaving them, I lock up the front door, get in the car and leave. 

During my drive into work, I listen to 94.7 KNRK. I like their morning show and the fact that there is always music playing. At the traffic lights that I inevitably always hit, I do my make-up. Luckily, I’m pretty low maintenance when it comes to make-up because the drive to work is a relatively short one and I only have a few stop lights to work with. But it’s always done (except the mascara, which takes more concentration to apply) by the time I get to work. Usually I take a moment after arriving to put on the mascara before going inside. 

I enter the Baird Administration Building at Clark College through a door in the back and go to my office in the Payroll Wing. Usually my door is unlocked already because Sherri or Natalie has arrived before me and open the doors. If it was Sherri, she has also opened the safe and put the checks in my desk drawer. I pull out my tablet (which houses all the music I listen to throughout the day) and set it on my desk and then turn on my computer. While it’s starting up, I take my blue Winnie-the-Pooh coffee cup into the kitchen and use the Keurig to fill it with hot water for my tea. Then I go back to my office, sit down and type my password in the computer (hoping it didn’t make me change it yesterday because I’ve probably already forgotten it).

And so begins another day.