I really dislike mornings. In the words of that profound philosopher, Garfield the cat, “I’d like mornings just fine if they started later.” I can’t agree more my furry friend.
My method of coping with the harsh reality of early alarm calls is to ease myself in slowly. I make a veritable bucket of very strong coffee, park myself in the armchair in the kitchen and listen to the Today programme on Radio Four until I feel at least vaguely human.
This used to be a fairly solitary experience before Annie arrived. The Cat would be happily tucking into her breakfast before disappearing to conduct her morning ablutions in some off-limits flowerbed and Little Bear would still be curled up in his bed upstairs. He dislikes mornings just as much as I do but has the luxury of missing them entirely if he chooses to.
Annie however just LOVES mornings. She greets my bleary-eyed decent by the light of my iPhone with super wags at the foot of the stairs and then skips along with me as I put the kettle and radio on and feed The Cat. She very helpfully licks the fork clean en-route to the sink too which is very good of her.
When we first got her I put her enthusiasm down to the fact that she’s a Lab and mornings of course = breakfast. But Annie has settled into a routine of her own that – shock, horror, doesn’t involve food. She sits patiently as I make my coffee and then gives me just enough time to set my mug down and park myself in the chair, before popping onto my lap for her morning snuggle.
Now the armchair isn’t that big and although neither am I, there’s precious little room for the two of us in such a small space. Cue the pitty-patter of little paws on tiles as Bear wags his way into the kitchen. Their morning greeting, nose to nose with copious wagging, is a bucket full of cuteness that never fails to cheer me up. Not wanting to be left out and now brave enough to get up close and personal with the big ginger girl, LB now joins us by hopping on my lap, something he’s never done before now.
So, here I am, buried under the weight of two dogs, trying to listen to the morning news and drink my coffee before Little Bear can take advantage of my early morning slowness and sneak a slurp from right under my nose. Yesterday proved a particular challenge as The Cat decided to join us too and plonked herself on the arm within swiping distance of LB’s nose which caused us all to sweat and forced me to abandon my coffee so that I could put both hands on tickle rotation.
It was stone cold by the time she sauntered off through the cat flap. Turfing LB off my lap as I rose to make a fresh one, he promptly hopped back onto the chair and snuggled up next to Annie. I still don’t like mornings, but even I have to admit that they’re now a little more bearable than they were.
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