The Early Cat Gets the Bird... Where's your worm, now??

I officially started my new job as a Massage Therapy Instructor at a local college (about an hour away) on Monday. It came with a rigorous schedule- complete with a just about daily wake-up time of 5:00 am (for those of you unfamiliar with those wee hours of the morning, that is about an hour or so PRIOR TO sunrise). Mondays & Wednesdays, I teach 4 classes that are spread throughout the day beginning at 8:00 am and ending at 9:20 pm. Grueling. On the bright side, it does give me time for office hours with the students as well as time for planning, organizing and administrating my classes and creating lesson plans. Tuesdays & Thursdays, I only teach one class from 12:30pm-2:20 pm- then home. I also have the occasional 5 hour shift of supervising the clinic, after which I "Take one for the team" and get a student massage (it's a dirty job, but I do it because I am a team player). In truth, the student massages are relaxing and it gives me the opportunity for some 1-on-1 time with the students. During the massage, I can asses their competency and give pointers, tips, tricks and general advice that lecturing in front of a class simply can not provide.

I LOVE being a positive influence on so many aspiring LMTs. I love the opportunity to help them succeed in the field of Massage Therapy and inspire them as human beings to see life in a new light. That being said, it's a challenging schedule to acclimate to. Not impossible… just unfamiliar. Learning the layout of campus has had me walking no less than 2 miles daily, just trying to find things like which class I'm supposed to be in, where the administrative offices are, where do I get my attendance records, etc. There's an additional physical strain because, for the past week, I have been carrying bags of books, my purse (which is NOT tiny), and my laptop briefcase with me to each class. Occasionally, I lock my purse up and go on without it. So, this past week has been draining-physically, mentally, emotionally, & spiritually. When I got home Friday after my clinic shift, the entire week's exhaustive efforts hit me all at once & I PTFO'd on the couch for an hour or so. When I went to bed that night, I luxuriated in the realization that I could sleep in on Saturday morning…

Saturday morning came all too soon, ushered in by my Darling Husband- whom I had repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to wake during the week to spend the morning with me before I headed off to work for the day- awoke at 4:00 am (for those of you keeping track, that is more then TWO hours before the sun comes up). Unable to get back to sleep, he decided to make breakfast… for the both of us. By 6:00 am, he had managed to finish breakfast and rip me from our warm, comfortable, calling-to-me bed and had me sitting in the kitchen, eating a scrumptious breakfast of cheese grits, eggs and bacon.. and coffee (strong with a chance of death- just the way he likes it). It was a wonderfully sweet gesture on his part… but something inside me railed against the notion that I had been torn from sleep on one of the few opportunities I'd had to catch some much needed rest to recover from my week. The injustice!  However, I ate most of my breakfast, enjoying his company and asked him what was on his agenda today. Do you know what he said??? He was going to go back to sleep!!! Here I was, my only sleep-in day stolen from me, with the assistance of coffee & breakfast I was awake for the day… and he was going to go back to sleep!

Note: he DID NOT go back to sleep, and not because of any death threats I may have imagined... he stayed up with me, surfing the web for news, as is his morning custom... Ha HA! He's awake for the day, too!

About the title: I have developed a habit of letting the cats out just before I head to work. It's still a bit dark-ish, usually and they are more than anxious to get out & start their days of hunting, climbing and other kitty adventures.  They have quickly realized that they can go out early if I am up early, which they now try to facilitate by jumping on my head, back, chest etc. purring loudly and kneading whatever they don't get pushed off of. This morning, when I- bleary eyed- stumbled into the kitchen, I mentioned that the cats needed to go out. Hubby let them out while I found my way to the breakfast table. After breakfast, we mozied on over to the couch so we could comfortably use our laptops for our tasks at hand. Our windows are open to allow the breeze to cool the house since the blazing heat of summer is almost gone. Not long after we sat down, we heard a bird sound, followed by a cat sound and then no more bird sound... Our little hunters. :)