Wake Up, Sleepyhead!

Everyday A Gift

“Morning is when the wick is lit. A flame ignited, the day delighted with heat and light, we

start the fight with something more than before.”

Jeb Dickerson

Up at 3:00 with hamster wheel mind. I keep telling my brain that retirement means sleeping late, but it has its own notions about sleep—highly overrated and a waste of time. I have always been a morning person, but this is a little over the top.

I'm on 'go' because I have a lot to do today. I've rented a small booth at The Bama Flea and Antique Mall in Leeds, Alabama. It is the final step in clearing out my house of all extraneous 'stuff'. I have boxes of junk and a rack full of clothes and tons of 'bric-a-brac and frick-frack'. It's all going! I'm stoked! Besides, the Bama Flea is a piece of small-town, southern Americana that promises to provide many zany tales for future telling, and you know how I love stories. There are hundreds of vendors and at least half of them are bound to be characters. So this morning I have to put price tags on everything that's ready to go and pack up plastic shelving and load everything into my car. I have colored netting to cover the walls, a couple of painted chairs for stuffed toys and dolls. It's pretty exciting and tacky stuff, y'all.

There is something wonderful about waking up buzzed about the day, even when I wake up three hours earlier than usual. I have been reading the book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo, which chronicles the lives of several families living in the slums of Mumbai, India. They are up early every day, not because they are excited, but because their very lives depend upon it. So much of the world works tirelessly for things that I don't even have to think about. I am well aware that grace alone has determined when and where I was born and will live out my days. I try to keep that in mind, too, when I listen to the seemingly endless noise of political campaigns and the latest 'fleecing of America' stories on the nightly news. I don't like everything that's going on in this country, but I surely don't want to live anywhere else.

It's almost daylight! The sky is turning baby-girl pink. I hope you're as excited about your day as I am. Every day is a beautiful gift; go forth and be joyful in it.

In the spirit,

Jane