WANTED: One Routine. for daily use.

The clock on my computer says 5:09 am.

I'll bet you think I'm a real go-getter since I'm up so early and that's what I want you to think. I know that's what I think when someone gets such an early start. Truth is I hate getting up while it's still dark but I was awake anyway, having a hot flash. I can get up while it's still dark if I have a race or a plane to catch but I don't like it then either. But I want to like it. I want to feel like I have to get up this early in order to get everything done. I'm envious of people that have to get up this early to get everything done and they'd probably like to be able to get up whenever they wanted, like me.

In order to be fulfilled I think my life needs to be more harried. I want weekends to be different than weekdays.

It's starting to get light. The sun has a routine that a lot of people count on. That must feel good. I want to be like the sun.

Right now I burst into everyday with a pretty pathetic routine.
1. Get up (a lot later than 5:09 am).
2. Wash one window.
3. Make a cup of chamomile tea.
4. Check the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar and the local weather online.
After that I start to lose focus.

The reason my life is so wacky right now is that my husband Vince and I sold our business of 20 years almost 4 years ago just after I'd turned 49. It was a great business but we'd been working 80 hour weeks for years and thought we should want to do other things. We manufactured....yes, US manufacturing is possible, athletic apparel for clubs and teams nationally. Mostly for cyclists and cross-country skiers. Vince was the visionary who could make and fix anything and I managed day to day operations. We made a good team. We had around 20 employees. We walked 400 yards to work through the woods, had a groomed cross-country ski trail at our shop, our employees had health insurance and a 401K. Every year we had our Christmas party at a cozy local cross-country ski area where we ate vegetarian lasagna and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and had an annual drawing for employee of the year while a couple folk musicians played their guitar and banjo. Our sewers had expensive ergonomic chairs and quiet machines. It was after we sold the business that I realized how much I loved doing it. Oops. I still miss it. I miss our vendors, I miss our employees, I miss our customers. I miss making a lot of money. I miss being a boss. I miss having more to do than I could possibly get done.

BUT IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON.

Follow Vince and me as we charge into a new phase of our lives with a to-do list bigger than Obama's. Talk to you soon.