Thank You for Getting Me Up

Getting out of bed is the hardest thing for me to do in the morning. I lay quietly, drifting in and out of sleep after T kisses me goodbye in the gray early morning hours. Finally, as the sun comes up, the room becomes brighter and brighter. 

I check the clock periodically. It is 8, 8:45. It is 9:45. I tell myself that I must get up. My bones disagree. They are achey, argumentative. Whiny as a teenager. They are tired. They hurt. The bed is warm. It would be easy to give in. I have no place to be today. It is so cold outside. 

I hear my phone make this trilling noise that means that someone has sent me a Marco Polo. I tell myself that this is a sign. I will not allow myself to look at it until I am out of bed. Groaning, I stretch out my feet, my legs. Reach for the CBD oil. Pull my legs over the side of the bed....carefully. Carefully. Moving too quickly in the morning causes me to get woozy. Slowly, I touch warm toes to the cold floor and it takes everything I have not to snatch them back under the warm covers. I reach into the pot of oil and cover my feet and legs it. Relief will come in about twenty minutes; I know this from experience. My feet are so dry that they soak up the oil and do not make marks on the floor when I get up.

I get up. Pick up my phone and head for the bathroom. I set the phone down on the sink while I peer at myself in the mirror. 

Who the hell is that old crone? 

Surprise! It's ME! 

My feet, ankles, and legs are still complaining, but less so. I reach for the toothpaste and suddenly remember that I have a Marco Polo. I pick up the phone, check the sender and smile hugely. 

Lucy. I click it on and there she is. She has just gotten home from a class and is getting ready for her next one. But, she wanted to share a few cool things she learned today in her mathematics class. They are studying the mathematics behind voting. She finds this fascinating. She goes on to tell me about her intramural basketball team's last game. They lost, but hey....they managed to get 30 points on the other team...

I smile down at her face. I set the phone on the bed and listen as I dress. She went to a museum. She'll send me some pics. She is going to a pot luck this weekend. Do I have any ideas about what to bring? She is going to be gone tonight at a friend's. They are practicing for a debate, so don't call. How am I doing? She is worried. Hey....she really needs to go because her class is pretty far across campus. She just wanted to check in and send some love. Her face turns maternal. Am I bundling up? She heard that it is very cold in the midwest. She gives me her I am serious look, tells me that I MUST NOT GET SICK. So, bundle up, dude. 

She blows a kiss and is gone. I am dressed and ready for my breakfast of a protein drink. Maybe I'll try and get out later and send her that new Michelle Obama book. But, no. She has no time for reading other than her studies. Maybe I'll go find some pretty scarf for her. A hat. 

It strikes me that this is what gets me out of bed everyday: Love. There is always someone that I love. I am lucky that way. I wrap up in a warm sweater and go to get my protein drink and look out the window at the birds at the suet feeder that T keeps filled. 

I turn on the radio and a song comes trilling out at me. Cyndi Lauper's True Colors. 

It makes me think of Lucy. Yes, I think. You are beautiful, just like a rainbow. 

It was lovely waking up to the sound of your little voice today. Thankful.