The Gift of a Snooze Button

Waking up late in the morning is my gift, and is my curse - just like Peter Parker getting bit by that (spoiler alert!) radioactive spider. When I sleep in it just feels so good. "A full night's rest," I think, even if I'm nearing ten hours rather than the prescribed seven or eight. Nice warm covers and a comfy pillow, let alone my wife beside me, makes getting out of bed hard, and staying it in such a pleasure. There's a chance that is reason I set two alarms and snooze for over a half hour. 

That feel good feeling only lasts until I see what time it is though. On work days, and even the weekends, sleeping in late and past my alarm is a recipe for disaster. If I do not get to work early, it means I can't leave early, which means my evening is shorter and likely means I'll stay up later making it harder to wake up the next day! The whole day is slipping away. A few years ago I would get to work between 0600 and 0630 each morning. A full day got me out of there before 1500, and a "long day" had me home by 1800 (with gobs of work done in between). Melvin the Foxhound takes a good share of the blame for this lateness, but recently I need to tell him "it's not you, it's me."

The last two mornings I woke up late and was just finishing getting ready around 0800 while Hugh was waking up. I was the first to see him that day and we got to hang out just a few minutes before I went to work. Had a little milk from the sippy cup (him, not me). Waved at the curtains. Chattered at mom (that was both of us). When I put him down to play with his toys he crawled back over to be picked up again, and when I finally handed him over to Jess, he started to cry. I almost quit my job on the spot! (Or at least took him with me : ) Can't beat a nice good-bye in the morning - perhaps sleeping in has its perks after all.

You Could Remember 15% or More

During the warm months, Melvin the Foxhound lives on a leash-line in the back yard. While he has the entire width of our house to run around, he happily spends hours barking at our shed doors. He seems to think something is living under there and will bark all day to the one-inch gap between the ground and wall. I can't say for sure if something is there - I haven't seen an animal under the shed since we got Melvin and it would have to be the dumbest, and deafest, animal on the planet to live there - but just a glimpse of movement will send our dog into a frenzy. The thrill of the hunt, or protecting his turf, or whatever it is - the memory of why he is there is good to him, and it is just the way he wants to remember it.

Sometimes I remember things out of habit. While I was in England this past summer, every time I turned on the radio I thought I was in the middle of the Geico commercial! Even on my last day I'd forget the simple fact thatt everyone has a British accent : ) I rented a car while I was there and forced myself to drive on the left side of the road. That had to be a conscience decision every time I took the wheel. The other day while we were driving out of our neighborhood I asked Jess if I was on the correct side of the road. I was, but my brain was having a hard time remembering which was right, after training hard to know left was right and right was not!

Hugh will be a year old in two weeks and so much has changed since he was a little baby. Now he can scoot everywhere, climb the stairs, give people High 5's, and answers the question "How" (like, "How big?") by throwing his hands to his head. Such a different little boy than what he was, and it's becoming harder to remember a short time in the past. A few months ago, when Hugh was just a few months old himself, my dad commented that he didn't remember these times when Brother and I were babies. I thought he was crazy! How could he not remember such an amazing and wonderful time?!! Now here I am only a year into fatherhood and some memories are slipping away. It's too crazy to think I was like this to my dad and that someday, Lord willing, Hugh will be like that to me. Maybe I'll remember things the way I want to remember them, and maybe some memories will be out of habit, and the rest may all be fading away, but to have and cherish (and blog about) them once is certainly awesome.