Night Owl vs. Morning Lark

Okay, I’m a morning person.  There’s something about a quiet house in the wee hours of the morning that gives me a great start to my day.  Now don’t get me wrong, I have morning when I want to pull the covers over my head and stay asleep but since I decided to always get seven hours of sleep each night, instead of six, I’m feeling pretty chipper in the morning.

I think I’ve always been a morning person because my mother made it look so easy. I can remember the way she would get up and help us started our day.  You know, the dreaded flick of the bright overhead lights in your room just when you hit the snooze button for the second time.  She would always say, “Angie? You up?”  And my mumbled answer, from under my covers would be, “Yes Ma’am. I’m up.”

My mother would wake about forty minutes before me and my brother, Wayne. She had a morning routine of reading her Bible and praying before getting ready for work. When I was young I took comfort in her routine.  The soft glow of her lamp being flicked on, her slipper-covered feet heading towards the kitchen, and the brief sound of her tea kettle whistling on the stove were the sounds heard before my alarm clock buzzed by my ear.

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It seems like just yesterday when I would enter our orange zinger-scented kitchen and eat a big bowl of Captain Crunch as my mother placed my hair in two ponytails, one on top of my head and the other near my neck.  We didn’t have a bunch of money but we had God, love, smarts, and our health.  My mother believed if you had those things, you were already ahead of the game. And it seems the data is supporting her beliefs. (See youTube video below)

Today, I find myself doing a variation of my mother’s morning routine except I add inspiration words on my Facebook wall and text my daughters ‘Good Morning’ without the shock of a bright light. I think I stick with a morning ritual because I feel it connects me to her. 

It reminds me that I have her spiritual DNA. She is strongly driven by a moral compass that can rival the most dedicated church leaders and when something delights her soul, her laughter totally cracks me up. 

This morning lark ritual also reminds me of the strength of mothers because all over the world women are getting up before their families to start their day. So what are you a Night Owl or a Morning Lark?

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