Someone to watch over me

The best thing about changing from Daylight Savings back to Standard time is hopping out of bed in the morning. It's light and still early. I feel like I can attack the day head on.  No alarm clock is necessary because it already feels decadently late after all those dark mornings before the time changed.  Between the new dog and the bright mornings I have done more before 8AM this week than I have in months.

This morning that changed just a bit. Georgie started barking at something around 5:15. Steve got up to investigate and I went back to sleep. I realized Steve had been gone for a while and started to worry. (Not enough to get up, mind you, but enough not to sleep.)  I heard him come back up the stairs and asked what was up. He said, "Nothing as far as I can tell, I think she heard the coffee pot go on."  I responded, "well then she is really going to keep us safe."

I tried to settle back to sleep when I found myself wondering why the coffee pot would go on so early, but decided I forgot to set the clock back on the coffee maker and it started at 5:15 instead of 6:15.  I debated whether I should get up to get that first cup from the fresh pot deliciousness, but figured it would still be pretty good in an hour. But going back to sleep was not in the cards just yet.

The dog came back upstairs clinking her over sized dog tag they gave us at the rescue. She wandered into the room and then out and back down the stairs. She repeated this several times, finally coming over to my side. I realized she was looking for Steve. He had opened the back door for her and then returned upstairs while she was outside. I told her everything was OK and to go lay down, but she was getting frantic so I told Steve to say something. As soon as he said, "I'm right here Georgie," she went over to her bed and went back to sleep. I started laughing and said to Steve we've really got someone watching over us now.

Again I toyed with the idea of just getting up, but didn't. I grabbed the ipad and started to play words with friends, but I fell asleep with my glasses on and the ipad wide opened on my bed.  The next thing I knew Steve's alarm went off at 6:45. It scared the bejesus out of me. I never wake up to an alarm because my internal clock is so set, but the hijinx of the early morning knocked me off my game.

My first reaction was panic because I thought I had to get Maggie all ready for the bus and I was late. (And that's the first time that has happened.) That turned to a bit of sadness as reality set in. No bus was coming. Strangely, though, the sadness was mixed with a bit of relief that I wasn't late for anything - except my perfect cup of coffee.

I always have a piping hot cup the second the pot is ready because I am always up. Generally I don't have it together to make it the night before and set the timer, so I wait (impatiently) for the pot to finish and pour a cup the moment it's ready. Today I got up and had that cup of coffee that had now been sitting for almost 90 minutes. It was OK but not the same.   Nothing is the same.

As I drank my coffee this morning and missed my girl,  I ruminated over the events of the past few hours. I thought OK, that was a weird chain of events. We still had a version of morning madness, but completely different from those with Maggie.

I missed the craziness of my mornings with Maggie and the relief I felt as the bus pulled away and the day was mine. I loved how quiet the house was when I went back inside after the bus left, but I hate that same quietness now.

Then I had to smile a little because our house was anything but quiet this morning. The ruckus was different from before, but there was indeed ruckus. Apparently the coffee pot makes enough noise to bother the dog who made plenty of noise for us and then patrolled non stop until he found Steve. We are safe and protected by this sweet animal. Maggie is watching over us from above and Georgie is taking care of the house.

As nice as that is, I'm still going to reset the clock on the coffee pot. One morning like that is enough.