Early mornings are best time of the day—until the news comes on

There are most definitely morning people and then there are those who simply don’t do mornings very well at all and prefer the comfort of their beds for as long as possible.

In our household, mornings typically begin somewhere between 3:30 and 4 a.m. even though it has been almost three years since my commute schedule required that. And yes, we are one of those old couples who go to bed with the chickens; but we are always awake before our neighbor’s pesky rooster starts crowing.

Both my wife and I enjoy those early hours immensely. We have a few minutes of quiet time while I prepare our coffee – I prefer to not speak, or be expected to respond, without there being at least a half a cup of coffee inside me. I’m in a complete stupor for about 20 to 30 minutes after crawling out of bed.

Once we’ve had a little quiet time and are enjoying our coffee together, my wife wants to watch local news and I do not. In the interest of transparency, she just possibly may have experienced some slight hearing loss over the course of our nearly 38-year marriage and I may have possibly become less tolerant of loud noises and nonstop talking. It’s just too damn early for all of that.

I know when 4:30 a.m. comes around that if I don’t offer control of the television remote in the room where we have our coffee, that she will quietly disappear to another room to get her news fix. I’ve had to decide which I prefer, my wife’s company or listening to what sounds to me like I’m being tortured by talking heads.

So, I reluctantly turn the television on – without her having to ask – because I much prefer her company. I try to ignore the nonstop babbling of the anchors, garish graphics and far too many messages scrolling across the bottom of the screen and just focus on the warm liquid that breathes life into my day.

My dear wife knows exactly how I feel about my quiet time and normally will only subject me to the morning news for 10 or 15 minutes, but oh those few minutes are torturous to me. When she reaches for the remote to turn the television off, it is like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I thank her profusely—while quietly telling myself “Thank God, that’s over.”

Ironically, I have been in the news and communications business for my entire 40-plus years of professional life, but my experience has always been in printed formats and I’m too old to change my ways at this point.

Successful, long-term marriages require compromise on so very many levels, but I don’t think it will ever be possible for me compromise on those first few moments of the day. I’ll gladly tolerate television news for a few extra minutes with the love of my life each morning.