For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 04, 2024

And wake the rest of the family up with her noise. BTW, if she does all that, she won’t have the energy for her job at the bookstore.

“Why?” is an excellent question. It’s kind of like when a man says, “Are you sure?” when what they really want to say is “That would be stupid.” Elly gives John a hug for pointing out that she really does not want to be doing all that in the morning. Her list is an odd one.

Why is laundry, writing letters, or cleaning the entire house something that requires early morning operation every day? Why is writing letters a chore to be done back in 1995? Email existed then.

Lunches made. There you have it. There is the one thing that I would actually be doing in the morning every day.

I am kind of surprised “Make breakfast” is not on her list

Happy, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed morning people are annoying anyway.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

~ Ferris Bueller

OTOH if you’re up and functioning by 5 (a little late it seems to me) you’ll also be ending earlier at night.

John, you’re a good husband (at times when needed) other times, you are same as all the rest of us—there when needed for other things ! ! ! !

She stole that line from a Peanuts strip.

If they don’t see you doing all that work your kids have no clue. I remember my visiting dad being surprised at seeing me on hands and knees cleaning the kitchen floor (yeah, I used to be more agile). I said “Do you think I have a cleaning tooth fairy?”

A really sweet strip. John says exactly what she needs with one word

WAY TO GO!!

Sweet.

Doesn’t it make you feel confident that a professional dentist (he could be yours) can say something like, most of the time I say the WRONG THINGS but I am surprised to realize that just once in a while I manage to say the right thing! Yikes!

Do people still iron? I haven’t ironed in over 20 years. I deemed it pointless long ago

Or, you could linger over a hot mug of coffee and a buttery croissant while you peruse the comics. Then a leisurely stroll through a leafy neighborhood breathing in the cool fresh air of a new day.

Wonderful ironic timing. Take a look at today’s calendar date. Dear listless, but energetically dreaming, Elly. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU too!

Weekdays, I wake up at 5 a.m. just so I can have alone time for a couple of hours until I go to work at 7 (I work from home). My wife, on the other hand, when she gets up early, immediately galvanizes into action the way Elly suggests in P2. I really like it quiet in those early dark hours and to slowly wake up sipping coffee and reading the comic strips.

Regardless of your time tale, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. You can still do all those things, just later! Me, I’m a morning person but I know others on an opposite schedule that accomplish the same.

Re: John’s observation – In the words of the late, great Lou Rawls, “Bam! Right on!!”

It is great to do a few things when it’s all quiet in the early hours.

You get in a meditated mode, which is good for you.

Ooga Farley!

Booga Farley!

Googa Farley!

Wooga Farley!

How to be a morning person. Lay off the booze and go to bed early.

My mother, who recently died at 93, got up every single morning at 4:00 am. She exercised for 45 minutes, baked loaves of bread and rolls, cleaned the house, and then got ready to visit church friends. She came from a large family in Hyrum, Utah, who were farmers, and this was the way she was raised. She had so much more stamina, energy, and vigor than I could hope to have!

From Lynn’s Comments: This was a true glimpse into my life as it was. I hated to get out of bed in the morning, but in the evening, I wished I didn’t have to sleep!

The difficulty with being either a morning person, who gets stuff done before everyone else is up, or a night person, who gets everything done after the others are in bed [I’ve been both], is that no one sees you doing anything — things are done by magic, like the Shoemaker’s Elves. They get no idea of what goes into the managing of a household. They may know how to make a bed, wash a load of clothes, etc. — they can do it when they are told. But they don’t gain any appreciation for how to plan or coordinate the tasks or for just how much has to be done to keep all their lives running smoothly.

I learned with my oldest son that it wasn’t a really good idea to do things invisibly. Instead of doing all the ‘home-making’ tasks on my own in the wee hours, I studied [working on a Masters] and did ‘me’ stuff. I got the kids and spouse involved in the ‘home’ stuff after work [I also had a full-time career] — why should I have to come home from work and fix supper [cleaning the kitchen at the same time] while everyone else relaxed watching the news and playing games?

Folks like me are “morning persons” so that they can run and be alone with their thoughts and the quiet beauty of the world that surrounds them; NOT to get stuff done.

Elly’s generation, boomers, were expected to make their homes like a showroom. I remember one woman advising that we should “walk backward” from the living room to be sure nothing’s out of place.

I would have had a much easier time controlling people in my job if Americans were as lazy as the Pattersons.

Can’t burn the candle on both ends. Morning people tend to go to bed early and vice versa.

I truly believe you are born one way or the other. All my early work life, I struggled to fit into a morning-person schedule. (each weekend or holiday, my brain rebelled and I’d revert.) Now that I am retired, I find my most productive hours are after midnight. I took a sleep study which proved that, too. I’m an extreme night owl. When I see dawn, it is usually a trigger to go to sleep. My doctor seems good with that. “It doesn’t matter when you sleep,” he says, “how well you sleep is more important. Just be consistent.”

Yes, John. Every now and then you say the right thing. Good for you. She needed that.

I use to my children’s lunches the night before so I could let them sleep a little bit more and I get myself ready for work.

And that definitely is the right thing….

“Owls And larks”.

I know plenty of “Morning Persons”. Of course, they’re all prison inmates……

Sometimes I wish I was a morning person. Then I turn over and go back to sleep.