As previously stated, Debbie and Brenda have had a good portion of the last week off from work. As previously stated, over and over again, I am an early-morning riser. I am up, nearly without exception, every day at four. This is so because I start watching the clock on and off beginning with the stroke of 2:30...because four seems like a respectable time to rise for the day while 2:30 just seems pitiful and not a little pathetic.
While the insomnia has most certainly gotten worse over the years, I was never a big sleeper. During high school I would be up until 1:00 and be raring to go at 6:00. I was incredibly lucky in school and never really had to apply myself to graduate with high honors. When studies came out a couple years ago that students who got more sleep at night fared better at school, my dear brother looked at me—the dear brother who once spat upon seeing the faded sun-spot-scar on my cheek, "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE!?", mind you—and said, "Wow. You could have really been something special. Who knew?"
So anyway I am quite used to being as quiet as a mouse in the mornings while the whole of rationality tangos with the Sandman. So it came to pass this past week as well...my sock-footed whisper upon the kitchen floor, to the coffeemaker, the computer in the spare bedroom. I sip my steamy cuppajoe and scan cnn.com, my favorite blogs, and eventually, if the mood arises, I tickle the keys within the perimeter of my own administration suite.
I'm used to the stillness of those early morning hours. I look forward to the silence, the controlled solitude within which I can actually hear myself think. With my aunts being on vacation, I had grown accustomed to an even longer run of quiet that came with the onset of vacationers' sleep-in syndrome.
We have a high tech coffeemaker that has a supposedly handy "I'm done brewing, come get your coffee!!!" screeching alarm. To be honest, it sounds like somebody just gave it a Brazilian wax moments ago...you can't help but wince with your imagination's journey. Somehow, we've managed to disengage the alarm in the past...but as the brown out of a few days ago caused the appliance to revert to factory settings, the manual having been misplaced long ago, we are in a world of hurt.
As it cried Friday morning, 4:15 sharp, I flinched and dearly hoped it would not disturb my slumbering family. I cared, I really did care, that they were able to take advantage of their vacation...and it is just because I'm completely addicted to coffee that I had to make another pot and let the damn thing sound again at 5:45. I was googling my poor, pathetic runner's toenails when I heard a wisp of air. It was curious, but easy enough to ignore. When my peripheral caught sight of Brenda's purple night shirt, I was duly startled out of my freaking skin.
And, as I launched airborne in my startlement and blistered the walls with my cursing, Brenda looked on in bemusement. "I was being quiet," she said around a grin as the frequency of the swearing lessened, "so that I wouldn't scare you." With that, she padded out to the kitchen to get some of the howling coffeemaker's brew.
