Being home this weekend has reminded me why I’m such a morning person, it’s ensconced in my genes.  My mom, not unlike the Army, does more before 9am than most people do all day.  I’m sure she sleeps, I’m just not sure when that actually occurs. In my 40-something years on this earth, I’ve never once gotten up before she did. Case in point, I woke up to the smell of a freshly baked pumpkin pie this morning, at 8am!  Who does that?

My dad, meanwhile, always wakes up in a congenial mood. He’ll bellow “Good Morning!” to anyone within earshot. He’s chatty and affable as he putters around, simultaneously getting the morning paper and taking the dog out.

I’ve learned (through trial and error) that waking up in a good mood sets the tone for the rest of the day.  If mom and dad are secretly grumpy morning people, they certainly have a remarkable way of hiding it.  At a minimum, I usually need some green tea or a piping-hot Chai before I’m remotely conversational.

It hasn’t always been this way, mind you.

My love of the early A.M. has only existed for the last decade or so.  I can’t remember the last time I actually got up because my alarm was going off.  That’s a far cry from the days where I would sleep through two or three alarm bells, alarm whistles or shrill alarm beeps.

There are a few subtle differences in our morning routines, however.  I like and/or prefer relative silence in the morning … or perhaps some subtle, understated music.  My folks, meanwhile, blare Fox News from any of the various TVs poised around the house.  I might find right-wing propaganda a little more palatable if it had smooth jazz undertones … at least until 10am.

The motto: “Early to bed, early to rise” rings true in this house.  I joke that my folks go to bed when the streetlights come on, but it’s fairly accurate.  On countless occasions, when I’ve endured a completely crap-tastic day … I’ve gone to bed early.  Way early. Pulling the covers over my head is like a giant eraser.  Mom and Dad have always reminded me that “tomorrow is a new day”, and I think that’s why I always try and kick off my day “bright-eyed and bushy tailed”.  That’s their colloquial way of saying don’t effing get up on the wrong side of the bed.

Groucho Marx once said:  “Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day…today…and I’m going to be happy in it.”  He was oh-so right … and then some.

I would write more on this topic … but I’m about due for a nap.  And, trust me, that’s a whole OTHER blog topic.