On Rituals and Favorites

Growing up, I remember coming down for breakfast most mornings, pouring myself a bowl of cereal, and joining Mom and Dad at the kitchen table where they would be reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee.  I would search through the pile of Daily Progress pages scattered about until I found the comics, hoping that they weren't on a section of paper either of them was reading at the time.  

Now, Mom and Dad don't have a newspaper subscription.  I've never had one, and don't foresee myself ever needing one either.  No shuffling out to the curb in slippers for me, retrieving the paper from whichever corner of our lawn the paper boy had managed to land it on that morning.  No unpeeling the paper from its rubber band, or pink plastic bag if the day was rainy, waiting for the coffee pot to fill up, drop by drop by drop.  

These days, my morning ritual begins with waiting for our electric kettle to boil so I can make a cup of tea (not too strong, with 1 spoon of sugar and a dash of milk). Then I settle in on the couch with a few bikkies in my lap - okay, so actually, lately I've been perching them on my belly, which I find most convenient and helpful, I'm going to miss the usefulness of this rotund belly!  I still am thoroughly in love with the Australian/English notion of a cup of tea in the morning instead of coffee, mostly because it is perfectly acceptable to dip COOKIES into it - first thing in the morning!  I pull my computer into my lap, and check my email.  And then Facebook.  And then I visit my favorite blog, Girls Gone Child.  Which is how this post started originally, I was just coming by to tell you all about this blog, and a post she just wrote that I absolutely loved, and wanted to share with you.  

But then, after reading THIS post about how things used to be... I started thinking.  About my mornings, and how excited I am when I type in that web address and am rewarded with a new post from her.  And about what my mornings used to be like.  And how excited I was every Sunday when the comics were 4 pages instead of one; color instead of black and white.