Wake Up!

“My theory is that when it comes to important subjects, there are only two ways a person can answer. Which way they choose, tells you who that person is. For instance, there’s only two kinds of people in the world, Beatles people and Elvis people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis, and Elvis people can like Beatles, but nooobody likes them both equally. Somewhere you have to make a choice. And that choice, tells you who you are.”  –Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction)

I couldn’t agree with Mia more, (I’m a Beatles person, by the way.) but in my opinion, an equally defining question is whether someone is a morning person, or…not a morning person. Miss Cheryl falls into the latter category. I am at times both bright-eyed and bushytailed, but very rarely, if ever, in the morning. My roommate, Heather, a very cheerful person in the morning, says that she greets the day with positivity because, “Nothing bad has happened yet!” to which I usually reply with a yawn over coffee, “Sure, but nothing great has happened either.” Naturally I try to spend as little time in the morning as possible, waking up fifteen minutes before I need to leave for a job. I wake up, wash my face, brush my teeth, get dressed, grab my nannying bag, coffee, and breakfast shake, and I’m out the door. I’m always sure to explain to parents that if I seem a little out of it when I arrive it’s because they are seeing me literally less than half an hour after waking. I don’t listen to music with words before 10 am, preferring 89.5 KMFA classically Austin on my morning drive, and I declare that I cannot see color before I have had my coffee.

Because I’m not a morning person, it’s to my advantage that my job is something I look forward to and enjoy so much. No matter how tired I am or how begrudgingly I have awoken, as soon as I step into a charge’s house, I am instantly more alert and know that the day will be great! The babies are always so sweet and still a bit sleepy-looking when I arrive, sometimes still in little footy pajamas, their hair adorably matted. Their little faces perk me up, and acting more awake than I feel, usually leads to my really feeling wide awake. It melts my heart that my older charges (when I have them early in the morning, or overnight and then the next day) are often sensitive to my a.m. imperfection, and usually humor my lack of people skills in my witching hours. They try not to ask quite as many questions, will opt for puzzles instead of tag, Mozart in place of ACDC, and I appreciate their understanding that I just need to ease into the day. While playing with Big Cat and Mr. Man one morning after an overnight together, Big Cat asked me to grab the blue and green magnets, to which Mr. Man interjected, “Big Cat, you know Miss Cheryl can’t see color until after she’s had her coffee,” then putting a hand on my shoulder said to me, “I’ll get them for you.” Maybe there isn’t a right side of the bed for me, but it helps that the kiddos make me feel right where I belong. 🙂