” Why I Wake Early” …

Dear Reader:

I am not sure when it happened. It happened before my brain recognized it as a bona fide new pattern in my daily routine.

I have started waking up at the ” crack of dawn.” The first few times it happened I had fallen asleep watching television and had to turn off everything and then try to get back asleep so I figured it was just a circumstance or coincidence.

Soon, however, I was waking up at 6:30 ( almost literally) on the dot… as if I had an internal alarm going off. I felt replenished and ready to take on the day. I felt a sense of pride in watering both gardens, throwing in a load of clothes to wash… picking up from the day before, loading or unloading the dishwasher, some days running to the grocery ( loved the feeling of being only one of a handful of people shopping that early.) and then fixing some toast while finishing watching the last morning segment of GMA. Morning mission accomplished and I was more alert and active than I had been in awhile! The whole wonderful day ahead of me!

Mary Oliver’s prose speaks to me in her simple truths and observations!

Why I wake early Hello, sun in my face. Hello, You who spread it over fields and into the faces of tulips and the nodding morning glories and into the windows of even the miserable and the crotchety- best preacher that ever was, dear star, that just happens to be where you are in the universe to keep us from ever-darkness, to ease us with warm touching, to hold us in the great hands of light – Good morning , good morning, good morning. Watch now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”

So until tomorrow… I look on this God gift as a much needed change in my prior routine… I have more energy, can’t wait to get out and check on the gardens and look forward to the unfolding of surprises and opportunities laying in wait… to be revealed!

Today is my favorite day/Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday Cable-man ” Spectrum Samuel” arrived two days early to put in all new lines that were way overdue for a ” make-over” he grinned. He helped me change a light bulb I couldn’t reach and worked out in the excessive heat climbing tall ladders to replace old drooping lines-Samuel is my hero! I have Cable… I have a television that works!!!

While Samuel was here Michele and Peter ( church friends) stopped by to select four ” Honey” bowls for the Ukrainian Hope for Hunger fundraiser… bringing the most beautiful caladium with them. I am going to “babysit” it inside until this excessive heat subsides! Thank you Michele and Peter.

Interesting coincidence… I find this poem and my first morning glory blooms!

The other Saturday when Mollie and the kids were here… they got interested in looking up their birth gem stones… mine is the sapphire for September ( Libra) and the morning glory is my flower ” gem stone” because of the color.

My other birth gemstone is on my glass door -my birthday angel holding the September gemstone that Marcia, Mollie’s mother, gave me many years ago! I told Mollie I see it every time I leave and re-enter – The angel tells me good-bye and welcomes me back home. My home guardian angel-I feel secure knowing she is always guarding the home at night!

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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