I guess I really am a Morning Person

Things I do when I drop my beloved at the airport at 5:15 a.m. and decide not to go back to bed when I get home...

stop at the office to pick up library books to read over the weekend -- scaring the pants off the Lincoln Hall janitor, who doesn't expect to see people coming out of their offices with an armful of books at 6 a.m.;

listen to NPR while systematically cleaning out and organizing every cupboard in the kitchen that got "rearranged" by the renters during sabbatical year;

separate out kitchen items no longer used but that Nephew Ben might want for new grad student apartment in the fall;

box up said items with other items (plates, bowls) found while rummaging through basement for other things to get rid of, er, generously give to Nephew Ben;

do computery things, including e-mail and the usual morning web surfy stuff, including the now ubiquitous Gunflint Trail fire updates (news is good!);

make calls to schedule doctor and dentist appointments postponed while on sabbatical and re-order subscription to New York Times;

call catalog company to place clothing order and figure out why I haven't gotten earlier order that was supposed to be shipped to me a week ago;

rummage through stored items in basement to retrieve family photos and other signifiers that need to be re-scattered throughout the house so it seems like home;

clean/dust bedrooms, with a little 409 and elbow grease on the few (happily, *very* few) crayon marks on the walls and other signs that a four year old recently lived here;

have long (too long) conversation with mail carrier Steve, who brings a package for me mistakenly mailed to Nashville by catalog company (see above) along with the news that I have to pay him $4.80 if I want it. I don't have $4.80, he doesn't have change for a twenty, so we make plans to rendezvous later on his route, where I will bring him the cash;

use the excuse of needing a five-dollar-bill to drive to Jimmy John's to get a sub for lunch;

visit garden center to buy annuals that I plant annually on my patio;

drive around the neighborhood trying to find mail carrier Steve to pay him $4.80 so I can get my package;

finally find mail carrier Steve after first spotting nearly every other mail carrier in the neighborhood, and have long (too long) conversation about where I was all year, what I do, and whether student athletes at the University of Illinois study hard.

This was all before noon. I think I'm turning into my mother.

Comments

[Lu]

Cara - that would be a great thing. I'd love to turn in to your mother, even if I could only do it for a day. She's my hero!

[Scott Springman]

New army slogan...We do more before noon then most people not named Cara, do all day!

[caraf]

Lu: Truly, Mom is a hero -- but (insert Wayne and Garth bowing action here) I'M NOT WORTHY, I'M NOT WORTHY!