My favorite part of the day

Rainy Day Rearview Mirror
Finding the Rose in the rainy day Thorn on 1/5/12

"Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore,"  exclaims Dorothy as she lands at
the Emerald City Port Entrance.  Follow the torn up brick road (viaduct),
she sings as she wonders about the tower with Mermaids above the clocks. 
Perhaps she's about to try her first double tall skinny with no foam latte.
My FPOD on 1/6/12 - Getting to go into the city for the day - lunch with SISU Bill and flawlessly nagivating my way through the crazy viaduct and tunnel construction zone to Seattle Pottery Supply.

Around the dinner table most nights, one of us calls for our "Favorite Part of the Day" or sometimes it's the "Rose and Thorn".  On long days, I tend to prefer the Favorite Part of the Day as it doesn't end on a downer note that the Thorn sometimes brings.  Usually, I like the Rose and Thorn better as it's truly a better barometer of our days. 


Last night, my oldest son called for the "Favorite Part of the Day" at dinner.   He said his FPOD was the breakfast of Voget's sausage and scrambled eggs that I'd made for him that morning.  My kid's call the sausage "Christmas sausage" as we have a large order of it shipped up from Hubbard, Oregon annually at Christmas.  It's a real treat for them and it evokes so many sense memories of Christmas' gone by for me.  Now that the house has risen from their sleep this morning, we are enjoying the last of the Christmas sausage.  Not to be enjoyed again, until next December. 


I love hearing what those FPOD or RAT moments are for each of the kids and SISU Bill, as it's often a window into their days and their perspective.

Last night I said my FPOD was waking up before everyone and reading a great book in the quiet of the morning with a hot cup of coffee.

I've historically been a night owl.  Ask anyone who's lived with me over the years.  I like to stay up late and sleep in.  I think it's a family trait, as most of my family likes to do the same.  I remember staying up to watch the "Tonight Show" with my dad or siblings in the summer time when I was a kid.

As I get older, I'm discovering that I really do like waking up early so I can enjoy the quiet moments in the morning before everyone gets up. The kids are finally old enough to enjoy sleeping in.  Gone are the 5 am surprise wake ups or the shouts of "it's seven zero zero" crackling through the baby monitors, letting us know that the time limit of having to stay in their cribs had been spotted on the glowing numbers of the digital clock.  I used to relish every extra minute that I could sleep in. 

I guess it's symbolic of some sort of parenting milestone, that I now enjoy waking up before the rest of the house and watching the northwest grey skies turn a lighter shade of grey.