Of all the memories I have of my mom, among the most vivid and ever-present images of her bouncing around my brain, is of her first thing in the morning. I must have walked downstairs thousands of times during my childhood to find her peacefully sitting at the counter with a cup of steaming black coffee and some burnt toast – she liked it that way – quietly reading the style section of the newspaper.
By the time I stumbled, rumpled and still half-asleep, into the room, she had already been up for hours. She had showered and was nearly ready to go to work, and was the picture of calm, having discovered what I’m now assuming is an age-old, universal mom practice: getting up at the crack of dawn in order to have a few moments of Zen before her children and her job burgled her time and energy.
Last week, I finally bit the bullet and set my alarms for 5:15 and 5:25 a.m., so I could make time to exercise by taking a brisk pre-work, morning walk with the dog. Doing that has set me up to get all the other morning stuff done a few minutes earlier so I don’t feel so harried anymore. The plus side is that I also feel like I’m home alone for a few precious minutes while everyone else is still asleep upstairs.
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With this new routine, I’ve got the kids’ bags and my lunch packed and everything is ready to go before I run upstairs to shower and get dressed. I’m not snapping at the kids as I hustle them through the morning routine – it’s not as rushed because I’m ready to go earlier myself, and I’ve burned off some nervous energy through exercise. I’m able to get on the road a little bit earlier, which makes for a faster drive downtown.
It’s not easy dragging myself out of bed when all I want to do is cling desperately to those precious minutes of sleep. But letting go of that pillow time has made my morning, and by extension the rest of my day, so much nicer. I’m sure all you other more experienced working moms out there are rolling their eyes and saying, “Well duh, Amy.” I know I haven’t discovered anything new here, but like so many things associated with parenthood, there’s pride in figuring them out for yourself. Now if anyone can let me in on the secret to keeping this new streak going, I’m all ears.
