The Best Hour...

Regardless of when I go to work, I try to be awake by 6:00 a.m. My clock is set for 5:40. Occasionally I rise on the first buzz, but mostly I wait until the 5:49 snooze occurs, and then I'm up immediately. I've strategically placed my alarm on the other side of the room, thereby forcing me to stand up and move the blood around in my body while I hit whichever buttons I'll hit at that moment. This helps me wake up quicker.

I then go into the restroom and take care of my bladder. After that is complete I walk into this room to check my email and to see if anyone has left any comments on my blog, since I'm normally asleep long before most of you sit down to read it. I'll also check cnn.com, just to make sure there hasn't been a terrorist attack overnight. (That sounds weird, but I'm still in that mindset.)

When all that is taken care of I go to the kitchen to prepare what has become my standard breakfast, and favorite meal of the day: A whole grain bagel with fig preserves and a cup of coffee.

After putting the H-E-B Texas Pecan flavored coffee beans in the grinder I close the kitchen door before I begin the grinding. I do this in hopes that I won't wake Tom up and make him angry, but I suspect this may be a fruitless endeavor, since the noise is quite loud. Beans in the filter, water in the maker, I then proceed to put the bagel in the toaster, take the fig preserves out of the refrigerator and next to the coffee cup and plate that will hold the wonder-meal.

I then stand, and wait. I lean back against the bar, my body equidistant from the toaster and the coffee maker-- the three of us forming the perfect morning trifecta. And I wait. I've got the timing down perfectly. About the time the coffee reaches the line I want it at, the bagel is ready. But I have a couple of minutes before both occur, so I wait.

Within those two minutes I think about a lot of stuff, generally the same stuff. If I'm not going to work until later I plan my morning, (after Texas Today, the Today Show, then a run perhaps?) I think about and wonder if Avery, Sutton, and Jude are awake. If my plan is to see them sometime during the day I smile and I think contained within that smile is hours worth of prayer.

When the pot is full and the bagel is toasted and spread with figs, there is only one thing left to do-- whisper a "Thank You," and a "Help Me."