five-thirty two...

...in the morning. Pretty early, huh? It's nearly eight o'clock now, so not such a distressingly painful time to consider... but someone came in and woke me up long before first light to ask 'aren't you supposed to be at work?' As if I were a small child and needed someone to get me up, dress me and feed me breakfast so I would not be tardy for the school bell.

He is also the same guy who loves to fret over the weather. Will sit and watch the Weather Channel for hours when there is some crisis brewing out in the Gulf of Mexico. Dreadful forecasts that cannot possibly reach us, way up here in landlocked GA, but he will stew over any sort of natural disaster: things over which he has Zero Control. Worrying about me when I propose to go someplace and have to drive in the rain  - or just the possibility of slick pavement and poor visibility whether it actually occurs or not.

We've been together a long time, but I am continually amazed to discover the things he finds to be anxious about - usually stuff over which he has no influence whatsoever. When he woke me up to tell me I should get up and go to work, I was sleeping so soundly I did not know what day it was... so for the first few seconds, he could have been right. I have awakened with my pulse racing, thinking 'oh, #$%&!' then realize there is no urgency, no place I am supposed to be.

Oh  - and this is the guy who is so punctual he gets to church at 8:15, when the service starts at nine. And is always thirty minutes early for medical appointments. He wants to be the first one in line, with the earliest time, so he will not spend an hour or more cooling his heels in the waiting room, with old dog-eared magazines from another century. And will be sitting in the parking lot, waiting  for the staff, when they unlock the doors.

In a sense, his concern is understandable: when I do have to go in, I set the alarm for 5:00 to be punching my number into the time clock by 6:00. So his desire to have me in  motion was not too far afield - except for the fact that I am not working today. I was so startled awake, that was the end for me. I laid there a bit and tried to get over the aggravation of the whole thing, then decided I should just get up and type to vent. Rest assured there will be conversation later...