Sunday Scribblings: Mornings

So, the 'chick has been thinking about mornings.

A work week morning at Chez Roadtrip is a study in controlled chaos. Roadchick and Rockboy get up between 5:00 and 5:30 and the battle of the hot water begins. Whoever gets up first gets the most hot water for a shower. The 'chick is eternally grateful for the inventor that came up with the coffee pot with a built in start timer. Coffee is a MUST first thing in the morning, especially if it's a work day.

Weekend mornings are infinitely better. Aren't they always? Even if the 'chick wakes up early, it's ok because usually, she doesn't have to be anywhere at any certain time. Coffee is still first on the agenda, but it's consumed propped up in bed, watching the Early Show on NBC or possibly CBS Sunday Morning.

Surprisingly, the 'chick is a morning person. She is most productive first thing so getting to work before the office fills up enables her to get a lot done before most people ever make it in to work. By about noon, that burst of productivity is gone for tasks requiring concentration and by then, she's on to things that don't require as much creativity.

Lawd, y'all, telling you about mornings in Roadchick's world is probably as boring as watching paint dry. Reading it is probably even worse. The 'chick apologizes.

She will spare you the prose about each morning being a fresh start, a new beginning - as a rule, that is a load of crap. The problems you had yesterday are still present in the morning although if you're lucky, your subconscious may have worked out a solution while you slept. More likely than not though, you're on your own.

While the 'chick was finishing up state mandated training for her job, they did an exercise about routine. It was to demonstrate that it's very difficult - almost impossible - to impose your personal routine on someone else, even if you think it is the best way of doing things. In order to prove the point, everyone was asked to write down their morning routine. Then, the papers were gathered up and handed out again with everyone getting someone else's routine. A discussion followed: if you had to get up tomorrow and follow the routine that you were now holding in your hand, how would you feel? How would it affect your mood, your day?

The folks that Roadchick supports are mentally retarded and developmentally disabled and in the course of their lives, a great many people have figured that they knew better about how that person should live their life. They had no hesitation about imposing their idea of "right" on these individuals. And then, they were surprised when a great many of them fought back by having "behaviors" - which translates to "unacceptable behavior" that could range from a tantrum to property destruction to verbal aggression.

As the 'chick read over the schedule she was holding in her hand, it made her distinctly uncomfortable. She did not WANT to do things this way because it was . . . wrong. Not logical. It didn't fit her morning. It didn't fit her life. And she had a feeling that she was about to have a behavior. The exercise proved its point.

And the next mroning, as she did things in the way that heaven intended, she was glad that all was right in her world. It was a GOOD morning, complete with coffee, already brewed.