My calico cat Izzie has the right attitude about time. She begins her day when the sun comes up, naps in the afternoon when she’s tired and curls up on the couch in the family room when we sit down after supper to watch a little TV. In between her naps, she spends most of her day out in the yard protecting the birdfeeders from the squirrels and hunting moles. When her work becomes too much, she finds a shady spot in the yard and naps some more. I envy her.
Most of our mornings begin with the buzzing of an alarm except for these few weeks in late spring and summer when the sun rises well before 6:30 and Izzie takes it upon herself to let us know that the sun is up and she’s ready for her day to begin. She parades through our room, with the finesse of a drill sergeant, first calling to us from the door way and then leaps onto our bed and gives us a second call closer to our faces, insuring we hear her.
Although at times we can rightly be accused of indulging our feline family members, sleep is still a precious commodity to us so we aren’t about to jump out of bed to service Izzie at her say-so before the alarm goes off. Many mornings we get second and third parades before we rise. Even then we leave our beds begrudgedly.
Looking back through adulthood, the only time I can remember living on a schedule even close to Izzie’s was when I was home with my babies and Dave was deployed. Except for the occasional doctor appointment, there was no reason for us to use an alarm clock. Usually I woke to the morning sounds of a young child. I don’t remember them crying as much as cooing or calling to me. I’d get them up and our day began. When we were hungry, we ate, when sleepy, we slept and the next day we did the same. That doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges in between, life is about pushing the envelope in one way or another. The difference then was that there were few external influences on planning our days. Life pretty much revolved around us.
Lately my days have been so over full of blocked off pieces of time and long lists of tasks to be accomplished that I long for those days when life had a more natural rhythm. I think I need a vacation! Either that or in my next life I should be a house cat!