Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings have become our sleep-in day of choice. It's the only day we can sleep in. However, my idea of sleeping in has changed over the years. I can no longer sleep until noon. It's mostly an age thing, although here there are many reasons. The people next door have two small children--Hakima, age four and his sister, Ieka--age two. Small children have yet to discover the joys of sleeping in.

The birds outside start making a racket about six. I can often sleep through birds, but the noises these birds make is not firmly enough engrained in my psyche to allow me to sleep through their cacophany.

I consider myself lucky if I can sleep until eight. I came close this morning. I managed to stay in bed until 7:40 AM. I got up, did some reading, checked my email and and corrected some school papers. That took me to about 9:30.

Bry'Chell has end of term exams starting next week, so she has a weekend of studying ahead of her. Lucky kid. Just as I can't sleep in like I used to, she is at the other end of the spectrum. She's at the age where she has discovered the joys of sleeping in. When she was nine years old, I would often wake up to see a face peering around my door, just to check if I was awake. Now, she can sleep the day away if I let her.

I've developed a sort of bah-humbug attitude about sleeping in. If I can't, neither can she. Besides if she sleeps in too late today, it will be impossible to get her up tomorrow.

I let her sleep in some, but there's a limit. Bribes are my preferred means of coaxing her out of bed. This morning it was pancakes. I mixed them up and then went to wake her.

"Sweetheart, it's time to get up. I made pancakes for you."

She sees right through my facade of kindness. She knows that it's just beyond me to allow her the total joy of staying in bed for the whole day. Too bad.

She did roll out of bed with a minimum of grumbling and staggered out the the kitchen. We had pancakes. They were good. Now Bry'Chell is studying and I'm writing.