Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Late Start

To my son Tommy,

It is amazing how quickly you can lose a good habit. Take for example our wake up time. On a school day, our wake up time is usually 6:40 in the AM. It gives us twenty minutes of cuddle and wake-up slowly time, followed by slowly increasing tempo of all the necessary chores, such as breakfast and getting dressed and teeth brushing, till it crescendos to going out the door with only have five minutes to get you to school on time. Luckily for us school is two minutes away by car. That is how it is supposed to work and how things usually do.

Well the past six days we haven't had to wake up at that time. Thursday and Friday of last week were snowed out. Monday was Presidents' Day so no school. Tuesday was two hours delayed so we could sleep in. That is why this morning, I rolled over and looked at the clock and it said 7:05. Oops, there goes cuddle time and all the extra time for the pleasantries. We were in immediate "move it or lose it" mode.

They (the infamous they) say that it takes twenty one days to make a habit stick. I believe this is more myth or urban legend than science. But the point is, it only took six days to almost lose a habit entirely. This holds true for many things in life, hard to establish but easy to lose. You have to continue to work at those things that you have established and achieved, be it in life or love. Turn your back for a second, take it for granted too long, assume you can take a quick break and easily resume, and it just might slip away. Then there is only one thing left to do...swallow your pride, accept your mistake, disregard your embarrassment, and go get it back. Hopefully it will only take twenty one days to correct.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

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