Up Betimes

Well, more "betimes" than I thought I'd be, anyway.

I have a mission today.  I'm going to read a BUNCH of journals.  I'm behind on everyone's lives, and I'm wondering what's going on out there!  I thought I'd pop in here for a few minutes before I have to get the kids up and start getting ready.  So this afternoon I'm carving out a niche of time for J-Land -- hopefully.  Thomas has to go into work for a few hours this afternoon (but don't worry, we had some time to ourselves this morning. ;). 

Getting up today and thinking about having a hard time getting to sleep last night made me start remembering some family "wake up" and "good morning" stories. 

My father was always a very heavy sleeper.  He retired after 30+ years from his job and the only time he ever missed a day of work was when he was in the hospital with appendicitis and ONE TIME during a blizzard.  (And even that time I think the family story is that he started walking, but his boss called and said to stay put.)  So, heavy sleeper that he was, he always did get up for work.  And for that we have my Mom to thank.  It might have taken a lot of effort on her part -- she might be hoarse and extremely put-out by the time he woke up -- but she always managed to get him up.

How well I can remember hearing her calling him of a morning, "Jeff!  JEFF!  Get up!!"  And sometimes he'd make our day by saying something very funny in his half-wakeful state.  Once it was (in a very irritated voice), "Well, I WILL get up, if you'll stop waving that eight o'clock in my face!"  And once to her call that, "Jeff, you need to get up.  It snowed last night, and the roads are bad," his answer was, "Yeah, and it hasn't been all that long since we've HAD roads out here!"  (Which was not only very funny, but untrue, although  it really hadn't been all that long since we'd had PAVED roads out there.)

Once he was awake he wasn't a grumpy morning person at all, and neither was my Mom, at least not after they'd had their morning coffee.  But there were times ----

Like the time my wonderfully-cheerful-in-the-morning-make-you-want-to-smack her sister, Lois, bounded into the living room where Mom and Dad were sitting having coffee.  Unknown to Lois they'd just had an argument. 

"Good morning!" she said to my Mom. 

"Aw, shut up!" was the VERY unusual reply from Mom. 

Undaunted, Lois turned to Dad.  "Good morning!"

"What's so good about it?" he snapped.

Lois' face fell and she started to leave the room, and my Mom and Dad, meeting each other's eyes, started laughing.

Lois has ALWAYS been an early riser and a cheerful one.  She has an internal clock that will not let her sleep past a certain ungodly early hour.  And unless she's sick she's in a good mood as soon as she gets up (pre coffee even!! -- gasp!).  I, shall we say, was the opposite.

When I first get up in the morning I like to have a few minutes to myself to get my bearings.  I actually do LIKE my sleep and have a hard time parting with it each morning.  When it starts to drift away I like to call it back for a few extra minutes.  I cajole it, and it caresses me and whispers, "Just a few seconds more."  And MY internal clock tells me EXACTLY when I HAVE to get up and how much longer I have before that time.  MY internal clock knows to the second if someone is waking me up BEFORE I have to get up.  I have been known to tell my Mother before she even spoke, "I have three more minutes!" 

"I hadn't even said anything!  How'd you know I was there?!" she once said.

I am usually a light sleeper.  Knowing this, and knowing how much I hated cheerful conversation first thing in the morning, Lois used to try to sneak in on me and wake me before I could catch her at it.  Yes, she's evil that way.

Lois, as I've mentioned before, was given a parcel of land on the Southwest corner of my parent's property, where she put a mobile home.  Every morning before going to work, she'd walk up to the house and have coffee with Mom, and this was WAY before I had to get up, either for school or for work.  I'd actually hear her coming, and she never could figure out how I did that.  I don't know either, but I'd hear her walking to the house, hear her come into the house, and then I'd hear her tiptoeing down the hall to my room.  And just as she got outside my door, I'd say "Go away!"  Then I would hear her giggle and leave.  This became a bit of a ritual, and I don't think she ever did take me by surprise.

And then there's the family story that everyone likes to tell to embarrass me.  I think I was about eight at the time, and my sister Maxine and her family were visiting.  Actually, there may have been others visiting as well, because I know our house was full and I was sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room.  One morning of their visit, it is SAID that I suddenly sat straight up in that bed and announced to whoever was in the living room, "Quack, quack, quack . . . quack, quack . . . quack, quack.  Now that's a quack."  And then I lay back down. 

And I was awakend by laughter.

Tags: Heavy sleeper, Light sleeper, Talking in your sleep