Ritual

For years, I have followed a routine each morning:
-make the coffee
-let the dog out
-read the newspaper
-check my email (while eating breakfast)
-get ready for the day
-hustle the girls along
-drive to school/work and start the day

Even as I list my routine, it appears quite mundane and generic. Doesn't everyone perform some version of this every morning? Perhaps. Yet, strangely enough, my routine is quite comforting to me. There is a inner calm and intrinsic reward that comes from the process of "home". My husband would probably call it my penchant for romanticizing. I prefer to call it attitude and perspective. So here is my refined list...

-grind the beans for my favorite coffee that wakes my senses and never fails
to remind me of my father.



-let my dog, Charlie, out. The best part of this is letting him back in and
giving him a good rub behind the ears. A dog's love know no bounds!



-read the newspaper. I have not yet converted to reading news online. Perhaps,
like my resistance to e-readers, I love the rustle of paper in my hand, the
smell of the Seda France candle I have just lighted (Japanese Quince!), the
coffee waking me up, and Charlie now nestled into my side.


-check my email(while eating breakfast). Not much ambiance here except that I can also check and update the Sonata Facebook page at the same time.So fun to keep you updated on the latest happenings at Sonata!




-get ready for the day. Because I am an early riser, I still have the bathroom
and closet to myself. After my shower, coffee in tow, I proceed to blow dry
my hair while adeptly turning the pages of my latest shelter magazine.
(a talent, I know!)


-hustle the girls along. My twin daughters are NOT early risers! Usually, they
are running down the stairs at the last minute before I take them to school.
Perhaps it is their last minute flurry and my coffee-induced alertness
that keeps us rockin' and rollin'!



-as we head to school, I treasure the car time with the girls. Outwardly, we
go over the day's carpooling and schedule of activities for the day. Inwardly,
I am thinking how they will soon be driving themselves!




Romanticized? Perhaps. But which list do you prefer?