This is why I go to bed at 9:00 every night

This is what my life has come to: I have to get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning (at 5:30) to enjoy a little time to myself.

I remember, as a teenager, talking to my mom and asking her why she got up so very early every morning, instead of just sleeping in and then rushing around to get out the door (like I did). When she told me that early mornings were her quiet time--the only time, in fact, where she could watch the news uninterrupted, sip her coffee, and start her day at a somewhat leisurely pace--I thought she was, well, crazy.

And yet, here I am, at 6:13 a.m., ready for work and relishing the fact that I still have 30 minutes before I have to be out the door AND Zoey is still sleeping.

Not that it didn't take a little extra effort (and probably just plain luck) to be the only one awake right now...I tiptoed down the hall past her bedroom on my way to the bathroom, pulling her door shut in the hopes that quiet would keep her from sniffing me out and coming to join me. (This, sadly, is what normally happens on my work days. Just as I think I'm finishing up my morning routine in the bathroom and on my way to enjoying a little breakfast by myself, the door is thrown open by a somewhat cranky and disheveled little person who is obviously no fan of being up so early, but feels it's necessary to send her mother off to work in the wake of crabby demands for milk and a new diaper.)

I remember my friend Kelly telling me one time that it is as though her children can smell her, and feel they need to be with her at all times. Kelly is a mother of three...God help her.

And, while it is somewhat flattering to be elevated to super star status around here, and to have someone in my life who wants to follow me around at all times, it is STILL nice to have a little quiet time to myself. I think it is the only way I will ever get anything written on this blog.

So now I need to go shush the cat and fix some breakfast, because it's probably poor form to arrive at work at 7 a.m. and, at 7:20, take a break to fix some breakfast. And....damn. I think I hear Zoey.