Morning Mumblings

Isn't the whole point of summer sleeping in?

I guess at 23 I have officially outgrown that phase of life, but I can at least remember it with longing when my alarm goes off at 6 AM.

Any person I have ever roomed with can attest to the fact that I am not a morning person. My morning routine includes waking up enough to reset my alarm (for some reason, I've never used 'snooze'), sleeping ten more minutes, and then sitting up in bed and staring blankly at the wall for fifteen minutes. You can attempt to talk to me during this time, I'm not grumpy, but I'm so incoherent that it's all pretty pointless. I never answer the phone if it wakes me up, not out of some sort of passive-aggressive protest against the caller, but because even if I wake up and realize in time that it is the phone that is making that obnoxious noise, when I answer about all I can manage is some variant of "mmmmmerrrrrrghfffffff," which, quite frankly, never makes for a good opening line.

But my strong aversion to the early morning hours does not take away from the fact that I rather enjoy the job for which I've been waking up so early. Due to some extenuating circumstances (out of town weddings, pre-field training, etc), my schedule is rather erratic over the next few months, which means that no sane employer would hire me, and, let's just be honest, the idea of working for an insane employer is rather off-putting. So out of the kindness of their hearts, my parents have agreed to employ me themselves. For the next few months, yours truly has been hired as a part time gardener.

I have absolutely no qualifications when it comes to gardening, other than the fact that I once owned a Wal-Mart bought bonsai tree that I named Henry and watered faithfully until he turned into a dead twig a few years later. However, it's something in which I've always been interested, and my dad has proved to be an excellent educator (imagine that). So for the past week I've been spending most of my time sitting on the ground warding off bugs and digging through the mud - and I love it. While I enjoy academic pursuits (within certain bounds), there's something extremely satisfying about working with your hands. Until you break a nail. That's just annoying.

However, I will say this. I had no idea flowers could be so expensive! Holy cow! $17 for a pot of Jasmine! I suppose that in and of itself isn't that bad, but if you plan on planting several whole flower beds, it can really add up. Of course you could just do a whole bed of pansies and marigolds, but I ask you - where's the fun in that? Give me a garden of calla lilies and platinum flowerpots!

So while I might be a bit on the sleepy side, at least I'm earning money and have a nice tan. And isn't that what life's all about?