Do you have muddy boots, or are you a fancy shoe person?

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

It is a good thing I am a morning person!

Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor has added another request. He has requested that I write my daily musings again; I know I already told you this, but in the words of Padme, "Roger, you are a great listener. Your retention leaves..." Oh, I forgot what she said. 

Anyway, as I said, it is a good thing I am a morning person. The only time left in the day for me to be remotely coherent and make any sense at all is to write first thing in the morning. It isn't like I didn't already have a morning routine, and it isn't like I can give up something of this morning routine to replace it with writing time, or is there?

Let's see.

Pre-writing routine:

• Alarm goes off.
• Laurie hits me on the head and says, "Your alarm is going off."
• I throw off the covers and sing, "It's a beautiful Day in the neighborhood.
• Ben (our dog starts to sing with me, which amounts to barking).
• Laurie yells at us.
• I stumble out of bed.
• Put on my slippers.
• Go to the kitchen, turn on the lights, and make coffee. 
• Go to the bathroom.
• The tapes start playing in my head.
• Spend time with God.
• Take a shower.
• Get dressed.
• Make my protein shake.
• Kiss my wife goodbye, which wakes her up again.
• Pet the dog.
• Leave for the "Y."

Post-writing routine:

Alarm goes off. (This can't change)

Laurie hits me on the head and says, "Your alarm is going off." (This won't change)

I throw off the covers and sing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. (This could change, but why)

Ben (our dog starts to sing with me, which amounts to barking). (This will only change if I stop singing)

Laurie yells at us. (This won't change, basically because I annoy her)

I stumble out of bed. (This won't change)

Put on my slippers. (Why change this?)

Go to the kitchen, turn on the lights, and make coffee. (Can't change this, I guess I could, but if I don't go to the kitchen where would I go? If I don't turn on the lights I won't see what I am doing, I guess I could stop making coffee, but I am not sure anyone would appreciate that!)

Go to the bathroom. (I could change this, but gross)

The tapes start playing in my head. (Working on changing this)

Spend time with God. (I can't change this)

Take a shower. (I could change this, but it wouldn't be prudent; especially if I stop going to the bathroom, just sayin.)

Get dressed. (Not going to change this)

Make my protein shake. (Not going to change this)

Kiss my wife goodbye, which wakes her up again. (Not going to change this)

Pet the dog. (Not going to change this)

Leave for the "Y." (this may change once Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor reads these breads)

So you see, there really isn't anything I can change, which simply means I must get up extra early to write.

It is a good thing I am a morning person. I am up before the sun, I am up before the birds, and I get to spend more time with the moon. 

Yes, it is a good thing I am a morning person. 

Yesterday, I talked about not being stuck, but still not out of the mud yet.  

Mud is sticky, gooey, and wants to suck you in. 

It takes real effort to walk through the mud. 

It can be exhausting, painful, and lonely, but you can't stop walking, if you do, you will get sucked in again and eventually become stuck.

So I keep walking.

I cheer myself on. I say, "Just keep putting one foot in front of the other." When I get so tired I don't think I can keep going. 

I walk all day. 

From early morning to late at night, it is exhausting. 

I talk to God a lot.

I know He is listening, even though the tapes in my head say He isn't, that He doesn't care. I know He is listening and that He does care. 

I walk all day talking to God.

God keeps reminding me to look for people with muddy boots, they will help. 

I know a few muddy boots peeps; they are really cool people. 

It is a funny thing about people with muddy boots, they know how hard it is to walk through mud. And, by looking at their boots, I know that they know what they are talking about. 

There is nothing worse than having a fancy shoe person tell a muddy boots person how to walk through the mud. It is like they are standing on solid ground, dry ground, clean ground with clean shoes yelling, "Hey, just get out of the mud. Just take a few steps to your left and get out of the mud!"

They have no idea what they are talking about. Because what they can't see is a few steps to the left is a giant abyss that will suck me straight to hell.

I try my best to be cordial, but I wish they would just stop talking. 

So I look for people with muddy boots. 

Do you have muddy boots, or are you a fancy shoe person? 

Just pondering.

Blessings,

Roger