Most folks have these. Routines. Some call it a rut, doing the same thing at the same time, day in and day out. They can be a good thing and if they have been done long enough, it's kind of like being on auto pilot, you just know what to do without having to put too much thought into it.
I've had this new "job" for eleven days. I rise bright and early and this morning it happened, I rose before my alarm went off. I like that, even though I'm awake before the birds, it gives me a sense of accomplishment and purpose. Sure, it's just a paper route, but it's my paper route and I like to do it well. I strive to be the morning paper delivery person extraordinaire. I had even gotten my time down to 43 minutes of paper delivery mania.
I was falling into a beloved routine, something I haven't had for way too long. It seems I was finding myself wandering in circles, wondering what to do next. Oh, I had and have plenty to do, but my timing was off.....I needed this routine.
I'm up before the crack of dawn, dressed, shoes on, trot down the front stairs, flip the locks, turn on the porch light, throw open the door and there are no newspapers. They are always on the porch. I looked on the steps, nope, no papers there either. It's kind of hard to miss a stack of papers that are all bundled together. They are heavy enough that whoever brings them to my door, in the wee hours of the early morning, has to carry them to the porch, not just give them a toss.
I glanced across the street, maybe they were on the neighbors' porch. Not there either. I couldn't find Brian's phone number and there was no one answering the phone at the newspaper headquarters.
There's a house a block up the street and its front porch is similar to mine. On a couple of occasions we have had people stop there, thinking they were at my house. I jump in the car, with the fan belt squealing like a herd of small pigs, and zip up the street to see if maybe that is where my papers are. No papers there.
This wasn't a good start to my day. There was to be no untouched, virgin paper to lay upon the silver platter and be placed before the throne of the king of the house. When he gets done reading it, it still looks like an untouched virgin paper, all put back together in its original form. That would by why I never touch it until after he is done. I like to mess it up, leave the sections laying around and maybe put a fold in it where no fold would dare to go.
I finally found the delivery person's number. It was really early to be calling someone, but he called me at 1 o'clock in the morning the first day, to get my address, so I figured I'd return the favor. He had a substitute driver this morning. She couldn't find my house. Seriously? My house has been in the same spot for as long as I can remember, plus it has huge black numbers on a white background right above the porch steps. Since she couldn't find my house, she decided not to leave my papers......anywhere. I'm thinking, this is a really small town, she could have left them, with a note, at the local convenience store, somebody would have called me.
Brian brings me papers about 7 o'clock. Bless his heart, he has a route in the neighboring town he has to do. He has to drive over 30 miles just to start that route because he can't find anyone who wants to do it. He would really like for me to do it and even though he is as cute as a bug, I couldn't let that smile talk me into more than I could handle.
At this time I'm almost 2 hours off schedule and the sun is up. I can't drive on the wrong side of the road or take the corners on the inside. I did appear to have my seat belt on when I zoomed up the main drag, just in case. I had to run the heater, I never do that. It was probably because I had already consumed a pot of tea, so there was something else going on. I couldn't jog to each door. I don't really jog, it's more of a rolling step, the kind where you swing your arms vigorously back and forth and roll the foot from the heel to the toe while keeping the knees bent. Low impact, easy on the joints and hysterically funny looking. Nope, wasn't doing that in the light of day. Plus, my hair looked like the cats had been sucking on it, a severe case of bed head. I'm rarely, if ever, seen without my hair fixed so it was really enjoyable to visit with a few of my customers who were up and explain that I did not over sleep, they didn't bring me any papers. I'm sure my hair told a different story.
The granddaughter just arrived, my hair still looks "rode hard and put away wet" and it's Monday. So much for my new routine.
And to think, I wasn't sure what I was going to blog today.
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