Sitting here thinking about what a creature of habit I am.  We must have at least ten coffee mugs in the cabinet, but I reach for the same one every morning. I’ll go so far as to rummage through the dish washer to retrieve it and wash it by hand.

My early morning time has become firmly engrained as a habit as well. I’ve always been a morning person. That’s a good thing when you’re a teacher and your work day starts at 7:30 A.M. But my guess is that the two memorable years when I was behind the wheel at 5:15 for the commute to Wilmington from the Cape went a long way towards cementing that proclivity.

I love early morning. I love being aware of the quickening of a new day when the light overtakes the darkness. It’s my time to read and write before the distractions of the day capture my attention.

I remember reading that it takes twenty-one days to for an activity to become habitual. This mug was a gift about a year and a half ago, so I guess it qualifies. Early rising is firmly fixed. Then there’s my inability to get past ordering the lobster salad at the Chart Room. I wonder if that would count?

Now if only I could get the treadmill into the habit category.