It all begins at about 6am. It’s gone this way for years, now, with few variations.
1. Wake. Blink. Consider previous day: Was exercise executed? Were healthful comestibles consumed in sane quantities? Was enough work done to avoid panic immediately upon the opening of the eyes? If the answer is “yes” to at least 2 out of 3 of these status questions, optimism is available.
2. Look left. Consider sleeping man. Kiss sleeping man’s shoulder. Sigh with contentment.
3. Rise. Pad into kitchen. Fill kettle. Put kettle on stove. Activate burner.
4. Enter bathroom. Perform noncommittal morning ablutions. Mostly just look in mirror and make faces. Consider birthday next month.
5. Cross back through kitchen. Eye kettle. Prepare tea tray with honey, milk, spoon, mug Rebecca made for me in her pottery class that I love more than life itself, cloth napkin, French press with tea in it. Consider a) cutting back on the tea; b) loving the mug slightly less because it’s a mug for heaven’s sake.
6. Feel generally anxious about day.
7. While waiting for water to boil, flop on couch and pick up something to read. Read a little bit of it before the kettle whistles.
8. Bolt up, leap in three bounds to the kettle to flip the lid so it doesn’t wake Yuri. Pour water into French press. Take tea tray into living room. Set on coffee table. Consider the hurt feelings of the tea tray: coffee gets a whole table.
9. Drink tea and write or read for a good hour. Toward the end of the hour, feel more anxious about day but internally struggle with need to have a few more minutes. Consider taking a short, post-tea nap with sleeping man.
10. Say, “Alllllright” to no one. Get dressed.
11. Begin.
Taylor
Even the Victorians couldn’t resist a kitten and a puppy…. 🙂
Jolene shindler
Mary,
You’ve heard from this wise woman before (me) and I’m so happy you have left the “new backsplash” for what’s sounding to me as “the comfy life in the cohabitating digs of New York”! Keep up the great life your living and a reminder, take a chance, make a change and break away!
Your friend,
Jolene
anonymous
I love this. I’ve been recently attempting to implement more routine in my life after being given the news that I have a mental illness that will benefit from having a routine to my day. So far I’ve successfully implemented a bedtime routine: wash face, put on pajamas, and make tea at 9:30, lay in bed and read while sipping tea from 9:45 until 10:30, and then sleep at 10:30. It’s really simple, but it has been quite helpful. And bonus points for the fact that I’ve tried over the years to give reading a bigger part of my day, unsuccessfully, but now with this simple routine I’ve already finished TWO whole books. I’m very proud of myself.
My next order of business is to adopt a morning routine. I like yours very much—hope you won’t mind if I borrow a few steps?
Also, in light of a few of your recent posts and facebook happenings, I thought I should let you know that I think you are wonderful, love to read your blog, and am inspired by your work. Keep doing it! Whoever tells you to stop can stuff it. 🙂
From The PaperGirl Archives: “The Mornings Are Like This” | Mary Fons
[…] Today, a look back to a post from July 2014. It’s two years later, and though there have been changes in locale (I was in NYC) and love (oh, the stories you and I could swap) this is pretty much how this still goes. […]