When Ben Franklin wrote his famous quote:
Early to Bed, Early to Rise, makes a man (or woman) healthy, wealthy, and wise, did he have a timeframe for sleeping in mind?
I went to bed relatively early last night at 10 pm but Poppy came to bed later around 11:30 pm although earlier than her usual pattern of retiring after midnight. Then we woke up around 3 am this morning! I’m semi-retired so working much less these days; hence in terms of lower stress, maybe I’m a bit healthier while she’s working extensively, often 15 hours a day, so she’s now becoming wealthier, and together we are becoming wiser. It’s wonderful to be married to a happy, sometimes delirious, complementary companion who is more beautiful, intelligent, and personable than I could ever imagine even in my dreams.
Surprisingly awake in the ‘wee hours’ we briefly discussed our landscaping project, fulfilling plans we’ve developed over the past couple of years, to plant trees and bushes tomorrow. We started laughing about the company’s demanding older brother owner who shows up occasionally barking orders to the rest of the chill crew — especially to the kinder younger brother in charge of the site work. He’s very responsive to our questions hoping to keep us very happy with their constructing a terrace wall and patio pavers as well as preparing to plant new vegetation. We get the feeling they’ve been burnt before by unhappy homeowners — so far we’re very happy with their work. A tree we wanted was not available at the nursery leaving a potential gap so Poppy came up with the brilliant idea to balance the color scheme with a second white crape myrtle instead of waiting until fall season to get the originally-intended colorful tree. She also laughed at how I confused her and the younger brother about trying to order trees using numbers as my diagram kept changing.
Speaking of dreams, just before she woke to go bathroom, in my sleep I saw a group of familiar people, perhaps former demanding colleagues from past jobs, whom I wanted to impress about my famous family ancestor who continues to greatly influence me and hopefully many others by reading related Conserve & Prosper blogs to them. The excitement of public speaking got my heart pumping fast as I awoke, or maybe it wasn’t so much the dream as it was the post-dinner snacks of blueberries, chocolates, and cereal that got the ol’ ticker accelerated. So Poppy returned to her slumbers while I came to write this blog as my sleep time typically can accommodate afternoon naps.
Here are some of the blogs I would like to share with anyone who’ll listen about by maternal second cousin whom we share a common ancestor. Special thanks to my next door neighbor cousin who discovered this special connection and also provided HOA approval for our landscaping efforts!