Project Two: Phase one — write a 2nd narrative

Morning exchange

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I hear my alarm going off. How can it be 6:30 already? I feel like I just heard the weirdos screaming over at the cowboy bar 10 minutes ago. As I am waking up, I am thinking about everything that I need to do today. I try to negotiate with my alarm clock and with myself, “I can sleep for 10 more minutes. I CAN sleep for 10 more minutes.” BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Great, that’s the alarm again. As I stir in bed, Patrick rolls away from me and covers his head with the sheets. It is clear that he is not interested in negotiating this with anything or anyone — he is sleeping longer. I come back to my thoughts about what I need to accomplish today and even more precisely before class at 9 am. I decide that the alarm clock and my more responsible self has won and I step out of bed.

I venture into the kitchen to make coffee. I stop and look at the dinner mess from the night before and decide that I’ll make tea today instead. Making coffee seems like such a painful process; washing out the pot from yesterday, grinding the beans, refilling the water tank, blah,blah, blah. Today, I just want to boil water and wake up. While I am waiting for the water to boil, Patrick stumbles into the kitchen, “Where’s the coffee?”, he asks. I start to explain why I could only handle making tea this morning. He gives me one of his signature “you’re ridiculous and I love you” looks and heads over to the cabinet. He is tackling the french press. It’s clear who is the kitchen natural is in our family.

We wait for the tea pot to start squealing. I pour the hot water into my cup and proceed to the dining room as he prepares his coffee in the oh-so-glamorous french press. We both sit at the dining room table drinking our respective tea and coffee, and I am thinking of what we can accomplish in thirty minutes. We have the morning news on in the background,but it really isn’t news. It really isn’t even worth watching, but it’s on out of habit. I figure that we have time to write our long overdue thank you notes and general thinking of you cards. I made them last month and they have just been sitting in the office waiting to be used. In-laws and nieces and nephews are high on the list of recipients. Patrick wants to send the card with
the Robots to our nephew, but other than that he doesn’t care. I write a little and hand it to Patrick, he writes a little and hands it back. We continue this with all of the notes until they are finished. They have a little bit of both of us in them. Our friends and family will appreciate that, and I do too.

As the clock moves towards 7:45, I realize it is time get moving. I don’t want to be late for class. As we are getting ready, we are yelling back and forth from room to room about any important things we have to do today. Its time to go — I can tell because I hear Patrick with the keys. He is only going to the gym, so of course he can get ready faster. I tell myself this quite often. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” I yell. As we rush out the front door, we say hello, or nod to the neighbors,
some coming in from the night before, some leaving for work, and some sitting in their seemingly permanent place in the world — their front steps.
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buzz word = exchange