Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Rise and Shine

Go ahead! Sing!
How do you 'rise and shine'?
Throughout my life, I have been summoned from sleep in various ways.
Some gentle.
Some strident.
All annoying.
My mom, a member of the 'never wake a sleeping child' sorority, let me sleep in till I woke up on my own.
Well, until I went to school, that is.
Then, her usual wake up call consisted of, “Diane! Get up! The bus will be here in ten minutes!”
Okay, I will admit that she usually called me much earlier than that.
I just wasn't listening.
Ahem.
Dad's form of summoning consisted of one word. “Spring!” And it was always obeyed instantly.
Mom, you could coax and cajole, but dad?
You moved.
Because.
Often, I found myself standing beside my bed with no idea of how I got there.
My Husby took a more creative, albeit (Oooh! Good word!) equally annoying route.
He would sing.
Badly.
And loudly.
In our house, 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!', the usually bright, happy, uplifting anthem from Oklahoma, sounded more like . . . honking.
Or a chorus of frogs.
Or ball-bearings rolling around in a hubcap. (Don't ask me how I know what that sounds like.)
His 'singing' brought instant . . . let me put it this way: No one slept through it.
“Dad! Aarrgghh!”
Success.
Moving ahead . . .
Our oldest son had recently become engaged.
To a beautiful girl.
Our entire family had traveled to Fort Macleod to a reunion.
Our future daughter-in-law was bunking with our other daughters.
It was morning.
There was far too much sleeping going on.
My Husby decided he needed to do something proactive.
He went to the door of the girls' room.
Cleared his throat.
And started singing.
You really haven't heard 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning' sung quite like he sings it.
Our future daughter-in-law looked at her future sister-in-law. “Does he always do this?”
FSIL's answer was muffled by the pillow over her head. “Yes.”
“Oh. Maybe I'll have to rethink my joining this family.”
She did join. She comes from hardy stock.
I thought I'd tell you that in case you were worried.
Back to my story . . .
This morning, my alarm woke me.
“Bla-Bla-Bla-Bla-Bla-Bla . . .”
Suddenly I missed my Mom's repeated time updates, my Dad's single word warnings and my Husby's singing.
It's all a matter of perspective.

16 comments:

  1. I'm happy to say I haven't been wakened by an alarm clock since I retired four years ago and I never want to hear one again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You need to record your husby and sell it to people like me who have two alarms set and can still sleep in ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think mortal means could record such a sound . . .

      Delete
  3. It is all a matter of perspective. Some of those irritating moments are now recalled as precious ones.
    Blessings for this cute one!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love it! Luckily, I have always been able to wake up on my own without an alarm clock. My husband is a VERY early riser, and he just starts cooking bacon when he wants the teenagers to get up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rise and shine?
    I've often risen, but rarely shone.
    I don't remember how I woke when I was very little, but after mum left, dad would set the alarm clock as he left for work and when it rang I would get up, eat breakfast and head off to school. In summer holidays no clock was needed, I was up with the sun, or before it and head to the beach, 5 minutes walk away.
    I think your husby's method is very effective.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is a matter of perspective, you never seem to miss something, until it is no longer there..

    ReplyDelete
  7. See I told you we were just alike my husband will start singing Johnny Cashs' John Henry...He is a very early morning person while I wake up at the respectable time of 7-8 am he is stuck on 4 A.M. yeah I'm think no jury would convict me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. John Henry, he could hammer! I agree. I know what I'd like to do with that hammer!!!

      Delete
  8. This morning ours was an errant blare from our CO monitor. One large shriek at 4am. Why? I ask you. Why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aarrgh! Must be a cosmic significance in there somewhere, but danged if I can see it!

      Delete

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