I
don't know how I ended up being everyone's personal alarm
clock, and that many of you out there will scoff and say, “She's
SUCH an enabler. It's her own dang fault.” They're probably
right. Which is why I'm so irritated...
So
imagine this scene. I get up at 5 am, and start studying, because I
study best in the morning when it's dark, and quiet, and I light my
candle, and it's cozy. Sort of. Because studying isn't my only
responsibility.
I
am aware that (names have been changed to protect the irritating)
that "The Accountant" needs to be out the door by 6:15, for a meeting, one of the "Teenagers" needs to be in the shower by a time not close to THAT and that other "Teenager" is going to be impossible to get up because he has homework
to finish. I have a timer on my iPhone. I set it to BEGIN the
laborious process of waking up an accountant. “Just give me ten
more minutes.” I have of course planned for this, so that he can
go back to sleep and not be late. I set the timer for ten minutes.
Ok,
what was I studying? Oh, I left my pencil on the bedside table.
Dang. Fetch pencil. Try to find spot in study. Timer goes off
after about 3 minutes of actually accomplishing anything. “Ten
more minutes please.” Reset timer. Realize that reset timer will
not coincide with time Teenager needs to hit shower. At least that
one sets his alarm. But turns it off. And falls back asleep, but
when I knock on his door he will stumble to the shower and say
thanks, Mom. One down, two to go.
Still
trying to study. Repeated attempts to get The Accountant out of bed.
I know he's tired. He stayed up way too late trying to get the car
fixed so that it would be drive-able in morning. Finally I just pull
off the “band-aid” (also known as sheets) and not so kindly say,
“You're 20 minutes behind schedule! GET IN THE SHOWER!” “Why
didn't you wake me up??”
I
don't dare answer that one because there are children still in the
house and murder and mayhem are best performed with no witnesses. So
is the language I preferred to use at this time. Two down.
Believe
it or not, the hardest is still to come. But I'll spare you the
whining, the complaining, the bargaining, the denial, the tears, the
procrastination, and the eventual completion of very little homework.
Not
that I got much done either this particular morning.
So
alarm clocks for all my men? Individual accountability for all over
13? I think so. But here's some advice I got in the wedding journal
that all my shower attendees filled out with their best wedded bliss
advice:
“What
you find endearing about him now will drive you about flippin' insane
in 20 years.” Gee, and I thought that we both liked to sleep in
was a good thing...
“Don't
start doing something for your husband unless you plan to do it for
the rest of your marriage.”
“Honey,
will you wake me up tomorrow, instead of me having to set the alarm?”
“Sure, honey, no problem.”
I
think I'll start the training of the teens. Like immediately. I'm
already dreading tomorrow morning when I need to be TEACHING the
class I was trying to study for...
Do
you wake your spouse? Do you drag teens out of bed? Or are they the
ones dragging YOU? Curious. And feel free to criticize my parenting
at will. Your marriage advice better be dang good though...
~ Tina
P.S Teaching Matthew, Part 2, Chapters 14-28. Precepts. Good stuff, man. If you can do it without being interrupted...
