I don’t ever remember being a morning person. Many people get up early, and get the bulk of their days work done by noon, and then they tire as the day goes on.
I am more of a, “is it morning already?” kind of person. Unfortunately, I usually know because the alarm is going off. It seems it doesn’t matter that I am retired; nearly every morning I get up and go somewhere. However, I should admit, I no longer sleep late anyway. By the time the alarm is going off, there are usually one or more body parts that are telling me it is time to get up and move. It really doesn’t matter if it is my nature to get more energy as the day goes on. I have learned that I live in a daytime world, so I may as well move when the alarm shrills its cry.
When I was younger, and my kids were growing, and I lived an active life as farm wife, mother and volunteer, I used to burn the candle at both ends. It didn’t matter what I was doing that day. What needed to get done, got done, no matter how late I stayed up at night.
It was not unusual for me to go to bed at 1 a.m. or even later. I loved scrubbing floors at night, when the kids were in their beds and no one would be traipsing through the house. Columns or other newspaper assignments could be written at any time, day or night. Summer nighttime jobs were often canning the produce from the garden. Some years, I canned enough pickles that I gave them to my parents and other relatives. Sweet and sour yellow beans were the same. I made sure that my father-in-law had a good winter’s supply. I used to also can tomatoes, peaches and applesauce.
Somehow, my love of canning changed. Likely it was partly due to the fact that I was getting older, and this being up late was beginning to take its toll. Likely also, the older kids moved out, the garden got smaller, and I discovered that many of these can be frozen just as easily.
I miss my home canned pickles and the sweet sour beans, but I haven’t canned anything for years. I expected the art of canning would fade. However, it does my heart good when I hear a young person talk about canning. I admit there are still some nights that I am looking for an excuse not to go to bed. Sometimes I go to bed because there is nothing on television. I hardly ever fall asleep while watching television at night, but I have been known to accidentally nap if I sit down in the afternoon.
Now that the days are getting shorter, night seems to fall sooner every day. I still can’t seem to get myself to bed before 11 p.m. There are nights when nothing I do seems to get me to sleep.
Sometimes, those nights string together, so I am thankful to sleep long enough to hear that alarm.
Categories
