My birthday is coming up at the end of February. Little did I know that I would have an excellent taste of getting older at the beginning of the month, while camping.
Let me back up a little bit. As a kid, I remember camping trips where we stayed up long past bedtime, waiting for the sun to make its late exit from the sky on long summer days. Now, this may not actually be what happened, but that’s how it seemed.
It turns out, camping at the end of January/beginning of February is not at all like those childhood memories. In the most pertinent respect for this post, it is not at all like those childhood memories because the days right now are really, really short. I mean, the sun sets at 5:30 p.m. here in the Florida panhandle. Which means that you need to get everything in your day done before then, or be forced to do it by flashlight/lantern light.
Among the things you have to do early? Make and eat supper. And so, for the last week, I have been eating supper at 5:00 p.m., and making it at 4:00 p.m. Also? You end up going to bed at 9:00 p.m., because you ate four hours ago, and if you stay up any later, you’re going to need another meal, which you will have to prepare in the dark of night, somewhere outside among the snakes and alligators (and armadillo). To say nothing of the swiftly falling temperatures you have to endure.
Artistic-looking photo of Choppy and me. Two things not immediately obvious about this picture: (1) It was about 5:30 p.m. at the time. I was getting tired because it was after supper and getting close to my new bedtime; and (2) We kept having to dodge cars. Choppy thought this game was great. I realized this may not have been my best laid planning of a timed picture.
This also means you wake up at 6:00 a.m. for the first time in memory without needing an alarm clock. Though this last bit is rather impressive, in a pathetic sort of way.
Also? I appear to be getting a taste of what it is like to be really, really old, and voluntarily living on this sort of schedule.
No worries, though – I fully intend to get back on the (likely) unhealthy schedule I keep in my normal life, as I can’t really go to Mardi Gras later this week and want to go to bed at 9:00 p.m. That’s just wrong.
Travels with Choppy 
I love that picture. I think it was worth the car dodging. Those hours would cause havoc in my life, as you well know, I am not a morning person.
And now a random thought: When Choppy looks at you with that what are we going to do today look, do you ever answer: “The same thing we do every day, Choppy—try to take over the world!”
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Haha! I like that idea!
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