the morning routine

the warmth of my cushiony pillow, the scent of week-old downy; replaced

by the cool comfort and amorous smells of my beloved's vacant claim. 

moist, caressing, manicured fingers slide their way down my spine; from back to back-side,

a loving squeeze lets me know that it's now six o'clock. 

i grunt my disdain for this daily ritual

(it seems to be getting earlier and earlier), this waking from peaceful sleep.

i clumsily roll out of bed.  my angel of the morn waits for me to gain my land-legs again,

and greets me with a kiss … then immediately reminds,

"brush your teeth,"  followed swiftly by, "and oh, don't forget to rinse with mouthwash."

i stumble to the sink and try to wipe away the morning fog,

looking in the mirror to make sure god didn't change anything while i was dreaming. 

the sweet taste of aquafresh, the gum-numbing hum of my oral-b electric tooth brush;

trailed by the painful cleansing of listerine. 

i mentally check off a task on my imaginary honey-do list

(the real one's magnetically pinned to the refrigerator door),

first task of the day … complete. 

i then perform the job nature's been calling for since i awoke,

playfully trying to beat my previous record for the most amounts of bubbles in a toilet bowl

at one time (573, to be exact), take a quick note of today's tally (552),

compare (21 short), then flush; maybe tomorrow. 

i turn on the water to the shower, test for proper temperature, and step in. 

i love the feeling of hard water flowing softly down my body in the early hours of the day. 

the scent of lathered irish spring, the tingle of shampooed selsun on my scalp;

then icicles are spit from the shower-head, shocking me to curse.  damn it to hell! 

she used all the hot water-- again.

 

Reviews

[Robyn]

I really loved reading this because it shows real love... You care about the person so much you are able to love them for all their flaws and little quirks.

great work with this!

[R. Nella]

This is rather hectic, just like the morning routine it describes. I believe most people will be able to relate to this, even if their routine is completely different. I don't usually have a problem getting up in the morning, but there is often a rush in the last few minutes to get ready, and resource contention issues due to limited bathroom facilities etc.

I did find references to specific brands to be distracting, because half of the products mentioned I'd never heard of.