As a kid I used to try to convince my parents that I absolutely HAD to wake up at 5 in the morning to get to school (which was practically in our backyard) at 8. I'd get up quietly, shower quietly, eat breakfast quietly...and then sit around for two and a half hours waiting for it to be time for me to leave. I've always believed that it's better to be early than late.
Granted, in high school when I was helping out with the younger kids, I frequently ran later than I wanted to. I got into the habit of hitting the snooze button and having to rush myself. But more often than not, I was early. Sometimes ridiculously early.
As an adult I'm the same way. Now I have a few more things to do in the "getting ready" process...walking in the morning, getting my makeup and hair right, etc. I also do most of the work to get my husband ready for wherever we're going - picking out and ironing clothes, making breakfast, getting coffee - just about all he does is shower, put on clothes, and leave. And because I (for some reason) still haven't quite adjusted to this...or maybe it's because I love laying in bed with him too much ... we almost always end up late. It;s taken a lot for me to adjust to this. I genuinely hate being late. I feel it's rude, and shows that you're unprepared and careless...and yet almost every time we go anywhere together, we are late. This used to be a serious issue for me. I'd get very upset, to the point of initiating a shouting match in the car on the way to our important meeting or our coffee date or church. I'm better now, but it's taken a lot of time and effort.
But when it's just me, when I'm the only one I need to get ready and out the door, I still follow those old elementary school habits. I get up, do what I need to in order to be ready to leave, and then, quite often, I sit on the couch with my purse and my coat and wait for it to be an appropriate time to leave. And I *still* end up 20 to 45 minutes early...almost every time.
So is it a habit, or just part of who I am?
No comments:
Post a Comment