Let’s go with Ragweed first.

It tortures me. I could claw my eyeballs out of my head, and I manufacture enough mucus to coat every Uruk-hai Saruman could ever dream of creating. (Remember that part in the movie? Yuck!) Anyway, I am very thankful for allergy meds. They see me through until mid October when the Ragweed DIE and I am free to live again. I need to add seeing a chiropractor to my list of things to do.

Then there’s water aerobics. Have you ever done water aerobics? at 0630? when the water is a tad on the cool side? It certainly makes one forget about ragweed. My neighbor asked me to do this class with her at the local community center. She is a morning person- gets up at the crack of dawn, gets right to work, has her day planned out. She’s one of the those organized and efficient people, and the wife of a Marine. As in United States Marine Corps, OO-RAH! You don’t mess with those people. And you don’t tell them “no, thanks”. Even to 0-dark-thirty aerobics classes. Plus, to be honest, I was kind of hoping some of her organizational efficiency would rub off on me.

I have to admit, getting up early, going to the gym, seeing all the cheerful morning folk, being in the flourescent lighting……it really did feel great! I was awake, energized, ready to start my day. I did require coffee, but that’s not too bad after more than a decade of nightshift. Of course, I would take just a teensy-weensy nap from around 10:30 to , say, noon at which time my kids fended for themselves with mayonaise sandwhiches and bad children’s television. However, this is a transition phase, a rebuilding season (GO Chiefs!). After missing a few classes this week accomodating the start of our homeschool year,  I’m hoping to hop back on the bandwagon with the next class.

Is it possible for a lifeling career nightowl to become a “cheerful morning folk”? I’m not really sure, but I’m enjoying the ride while it lasts.

About Autumn….It’s September 2nd. Usually in Kansas City, September 2nd, feels just like August 2nd; hot, humid Summer. But the last week of August and the first few days of September have been most fall-like with highs in the 70’s and nights dropping to 50. It really is gorgeous, and not using the AC will certainly help my electricity bill. But I am really not ready for summer to be over. I am not ready for the leaves to turn. And last, but not least, cooler weather makes me want to sleep in! It wars against my attempts to become a “cheerful morning folk”!

And it’s really, really not conducive to getting in a pool at 0630.