Early Morning Alarm

Every morning, my alarm goes off around 4:05.  Yes, it's early, but it's my chance to enjoy the peace and quiet that the early morning affords me and to slowly wake myself up with coffee and nice tall glass of water.    Without fail, I usually hit the snooze button at least once.  This morning I am fairly certain that I hit it twice.   My alarm clock is old, almost as old as I am (I can't believe that I just alluded to the fact that I am getting old, but I will let it be).   Some of the pieces are missing, but it still keeps excellent time and while the beep of the alarm is not quite as jarring as it used to be, it still does the job 99.99% of the time.   So this morning, after I hit the snooze button a second time, I was surprised to hear the alarm going off again sooner than the 9 extra minutes it usually allows.   It took me a few seconds to hear what the alarm was actually doing and in my half asleep mind, it thought it was weird that the alarm was saying, "mommy daddy", "mommy daddy".   A few more repetitions of that and reality sunk in that it was not my alarm going off, but our daughter standing in the middle of the room saying "mommy daddy",  "mommy daddy" and slowly getting louder each time she said it.  I pretended to be asleep in hopes that my wife would get up and see what she needed.  Well, she did, and tried to get our daughter to climb into our bed with us and go back to sleep.  However, our daughter being extremely stubborn and two years old, wanted to go downstairs and wanted nothing to do with going back to bed.  So she leaned over and said, "Since your getting up anyway, how about taking our daughter downstairs."  

How could I really argue.  My alarm had started going off and I should be the one getting up and going downstairs with her.  I just wanted a few more minutes of sleep and wished as I was pulling myself out of bed that our daughter had a snooze button on her.  Yet, she doesn't and probably never will.  So instead of writing this morning, I got to spend it with our daughter which is always enjoyable.  And as I am writing now, I realize I may not be writing tomorrow morning either.  It all depends on when I get up as I am planning on heading out in my kayak nice and early.  I figure if I hit the river around 6/630, I can get in a good couple of hours before returning home and heading to work for the day.  We shall see what happens.  For now, it is a return to work for me and time to plan what I am going to do for the rest of the afternoon after I finish work for the day.  Cheers everyone!

7 Years Married Today

Seven years ago today, my wife and I tied the knot and began our journey as husband and wife, just as my brother and his wife did last week.  Looking back at all we have done and been through, I must say, it's been quite a journey so far.   There have been mostly good times, but as in any marriage, we have had our struggles as well.   Starting off, we were young and naive, in love and struggling to figure out our relationship.  We learned quickly on that communication is key, that we were never going to be able to force each other to change, and that when we do change, it's ok and we need to love the person we each become.  Throw in that mix the rest of life and it's been a wonderful roller coaster.  Mostly ups, but definitely with some wild, screaming down hills thrown in there.  So where have we come so far?

When my wife and I met, we were each beginning our journey's in our respective careers, my wife as a teacher and myself as a painting contractor.   I slowly moved my way into my wife's apartment at the time, incrementally spending more and more nights there and less and less at my parent's house.  I finally had most of my close at her apartment, just not any other "stuff" that I had accumulated over my life before her.  After a couple years, and knowing we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, we bought our first house.  For me, that's when I officially moved out of my parents house.  Soon after we moved in to our house, I asked my wife to marry me, knowing (with at least 97% certainty) that she would say yes.  And she did.  We got our first dog, started working on fixing up our house, and enjoying our time together.  Two years later, we tied the knot and had the most wonderful reception right in our back yard to save money.  It was a pig roast, all our family and friends were there, and it was a wonderful time.  We went on our honeymoon in Ireland, had a blast, and missed our flight home (a story for another time).  Flash forward a couple more years, we bought our second dog, land in Vermont for camping, and life was good.   I struggle now to remember which came first, our second dog or our land.  I could ask my wife because she would probably know, but she is sleeping and I don't want to wake her.  Flip forward another year and our son was born.  We had planned on waiting another year or two before having kids, but...Surprise, there he was.  Some people might have been resentful, but we embraced it fully and would never have it any other way at this point.  Flip forward two more years and our daughter was born.  A year after that, we bought another house, moved into it, and rented out our old one.  Flash forward one more time a couple of years and here I am looking back at all the joy that has filled my married life.  

I am blessed to have had the support of family, friends, but most of all, my wife and children.  What the future holds, I have no idea.  I can plan extensively for certain things to happen but, in the end, no one knows for certain what will pan out (unless you are a determinist and claim that everything is predestined).  Again, that is conversation for another time, and one that I would probably only get involved in with a handful of people, Shaw being one of them.  But today is simply our anniversary, a day that my wife and I celebrate our love for each other.  And it definitely helps that our anniversary is only 3 days after my birthday as I can never forget when it is.  (I am horrible with birthdays and anniversaries of any kind).  I know it's only seven years, but I have had a few friends get divorced after only 1.  I will be proud of how far we have made it today, and I will definitely look forward to many years of happiness to come.  I just hope that all my friends, especially the ones that are just embarking on their journey of marriage, find as much love as we did for each other, and figure out how to make their marriage work best for them.  Cheers!

Another Birthday, Another Year Down

Well, it's my birthday again, yay!  I suppose I should update some of the info on my blog as it currently says I am 32 when in fact I turn 34 today.  Oh well, all in due time, and that time is not right now.  I love procrastinating and I shall continue to do that now.  At least with updating my info here.  But back to my birthday.  It is a perfect day and as of 11:06 this morning, I made the decision that I have worked enough for today.  (To my customers who may be reading this on vacation, don't worry, I'll get the work done by the time you return).   It is a momentous day in the world as Britain voted to leave the E.U.  I wonder if my birthday had anything to do with it.  The answer is fairly obvious that it did.  But since it is my birthday, I shall push off any discussion of their decision across the pond till next week when I shall have plenty to talk about.  For now, I shall talk about me and my day.    Why not, I ask, it's my blog and I'll write as I want to.  (I did have that ancient song flash through my head quickly, "It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to", just saying).  

I love my birthday if only for the fact that I get to look in the mirror and tell my boss (myself), "You don't have to work that hard today, in fact, you might as well do absolutely nothing and enjoy it."  For those that know me, I rarely do nothing unless it involves sitting on a beach or by a pool in the sun.  Other than those few times, I maintain a good deal of activity throughout the day and into the evening.  Even today, I will probably putz around the yard at home, doing a few things here and there.   But to start with, it's time to head home from work, eat some lunch with my family and figure out afternoon plans.  Maybe poolside for a while, dinner at my parents, then who knows.  Whatever happens, I'll enjoy it on this beautiful day with no humidity and blue skies.  Turning 34 feels much the same as most of my 33rd year of life, pretty damn good.  I am happy with where I am at in the overall scheme of things and am happy where things are headed.  With that said, I'm off.  Enjoy the weekend whoever is reading this and I'll be back next week!  Cheers!