My ideal self:

·            Never needs to rest during a day of hard, physical labor

·            Doesn’t crave cheese all the time

·            Has no self-doubt

·            Wakes up early to exercise and listen to the news before work

Mary Oliver has a poem about waking up early that inspired me last night to leap out of bed this morning, but that intent was squashed when my alarm went off and it was pouring rain out:

Why I Wake Early

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable, and the crotchety –

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light –

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.