Sounds of the Morning
“What are the sounds of your morning?” My friend asked this question on social media this week, and I was floored. When was the last time I took the chance to just listen to the sounds around me in the morning? I truly can’t recall. What are my sounds?
As the first person up in the morning, the buzz of the alarm on my phone initially jars me awake most mornings. That’s not the most romantic sound one could write about, but it got me thinking. What do I hear next? Too often I launch into the busyness of my morning routine and don’t pay attention to the prospective beauty of the morning around me.
A stillness.
At first, I hear nothing when I silence the alarm, but then I notice the sound of my hard-working husband’s slow breathing still sleeping beside me. He works two jobs to help support our family and never complains. Next, it is the quieter but also steady breathing I hear of my youngest child, who has usually crashed in the bed or on the floor of our room at some point during the night.
(My son used to sleep in his own bed just fine until we moved into our current home a year and a half ago, and then he started waking up at all times of the night again. During this summer, he started sleeping all night again--it was glorious!--until recently when I started having to leave early again to prep for the start of school. On those mornings, I hear, “Don’t go, Mommy,” in his high-pitched three-year-old voice as he stumbles out to the hall after me as I head out the door. I try to give him extra squeezes and don’t berate him for sleeping in our room. I’m sorry I have to go, too.)
My oldest daughter is usually the first to rise on a typical summer morning when I’m not going to the school. I hear the antique bedroom door open and close on its slightly noisy hinges, and I always think I should take some WD40 to that thing, but I never quite remember to do it. I listen to the sound of the faucet in the bathroom, then the soft thud of opening and closing cabinets in the kitchen as she gets a bowl from the cupboard. The rustling of the cereal bag is next and then the clinking tumble of the squares in the bowl. Frosted Mini Wheats are her favorite, and I find myself still slightly surprised that she’s already ten and more and more independent every day. She’s already over halfway to leaving me.
“Honey, awake,” my son will say sleepily as he stumbles out of my room. She is his favorite person, and with 6 years between them, he looks up to her like nobody else. He’s been in speech therapy for a year and a half but still can’t say certain letters or words. “Honey” is what he’s settled on calling his sister for the past year since he can’t say her name. If I haven’t gotten up yet, this is my cue to climb out of bed and oversee the kitchen and get breakfast for my youngest.
From here on out, the sounds of my mornings are full of kids’ voices, clinking dishes, cartoons in the background, my husband cracking jokes in his deep voice. Mornings are chaotic, but each of these sounds is precious. When I stop to think about it, I love the sounds of these slow-start mornings. And this gives me pause. I wish I had noticed earlier this summer, I wish I had been treasuring up each facet of these crazy summer mornings.
We have less than a week before my kids and I are all back to school, and then our morning sounds will be different. Mornings will now always be woken by the alarm clock during the school year except for a rare Saturday morning where I might attempt to sleep in a few more minutes before the littles begin to stir. After the alarm, my husband and I are both up at the same time, and I hear the sound of the coffee pot percolating. Cup of coffee in hand, we take a few quiet minutes to read some Scripture. Perhaps now I’ll listen for any birds or squirrels outside in those early morning hours. Perhaps it will just be a pervading peacefulness that early in the morning. Then the “Rise and Shine” or “Time to Get Up” song or some other morning greeting is delivered to each of our three children, and eventually we hear padding feet enter the kitchen accompanied by yawns. I hope I will treasure each of those and not allow myself to sleep into nagging mode in the mornings.
I don’t want to allow the busyness of our morning routine to prevent me from treasuring each of those sounds. I do want to hear them all and remember and also create sounds for my children this school year that are positive and peaceful, as well. It will be hard. It’s hard getting myself and three children out the door by 6:50 am every day, but I also know I can do better than I’ve done. So, join me in considering your morning sounds. Which do you love? Which can you foster? What are your morning sounds?
