Waking Up

In Argentina one can “Wake up like an ass”, in France “Wake up with the left foot” and in the States “Wake up on the wrong side of bed”. I am not certain what the equivalent expression is in Italy but our Italian chicken didn’t wake up like an ass, with her left foot, or on the wrong side of bed; our Italian chicken simply - didn’t wake up.

I’ve had a morning in the recent past where the axiom “It would have been better to stay in bed” came to mind. Following the “skin-not-connecting” doctor’s visit, Leonora left me at the ER entrance while she fetched the car. Alone with my disappointment, I broke down in tears, sobbing into the parking lot asphalt.

And then there are mornings that take me by surprise. The day before Spring officially arrived on the calendar and several days after Spring unofficially arrived on the farm, I woke up to see snow falling from the window’s view.

A subsequent doctor’s visit removed the sutures and a subsequent day brought the sun, but on a subsequent morning our chicken did not run the fields of Casa Lanzarotti as she did the day before. So rather than thinking in terms of “good days and bad days”, I will think in terms of good days and better days. And rather than waking up on the right side or wrong side of bed, I will be grateful to wake up at all.