Joy

The buzz of the alarm clock jarred Joy awake. It was 8:00 a.m. on an overcast Monday morning. She padded to the kitchen to make her first cup of coffee. The coffee machine perked to life filling the air with the aroma of comfort. She grabbed the usual green and white mug that exclaimed, "I work hard so my dog can have a better life!" and filled it to the full, slopping a bit of the liquid gold onto the kitchen floor as she headed to the shower.

Her shower was step two in her morning routine to awaken herself to the new day. The warm pellets erased any remaining fog of sleep from her body. She doused herself with her favourite eucalyptus body wash to enliven her senses. Nearing the end of her shower, Joy opened the window to let the steam escape in swirls and spotted a red-breasted Robin happily chirping its morning song on the neighbour's black shingled roof. She laughed to herself, realizing the bird's day was in full swing as she struggling to get into gear for her day.

She stepped into her black leggings and pulled on a simple white tee shirt, no need for fancy clothes when today she would be working from home as she did every day. She slurped a few more sips of coffee which had now cooled before heading out of the bathroom.

She creaked her way down the hall to her bedroom which as of late had become an impromptu home office. It was a little disheveled and disorganized with random bits of paper in all sorts of places. Joy pressed the power button on the laptop, and it sprang to life engaging the 2 external monitors. She headed back to the kitchen to retrieve more coffee and refilled her cup to near overflowing allowing the computer to awaken.

Chase, Joy's Labrador, wagged his chocolate brown tail as she walked past him, scratching behind his ears. He arose, stretched himself to ease achy joints, shook himself awake and followed Joy as she moved through the house.

She placed a bowl full of kibble on the floor for Chase to devour and was rewarded by hungry gulping of the food with a momentary gaze of thanks In her direction.

Joy poured herself a bowl of cereal, added milk and spooned the concoction into her mouth. She grabbed the rest of the cereal for her 30 second commute to her office and sat down on a newly acquired 5 caster maroon chair. It wasn't pretty but it was functional and all she could find to furnish a temporary home office that had evolved to a permanent work arrangement.

Joy logged into the chat software scanning for new messages, then moved on to her email account looking for critical issues she needed to deal with. She looked out her window and noticed the sky had cleared. The sun was peeking through as the clouds floated off for the day.

The yellow school bus pulled up outside the yard and seemingly invisible children rose up to mount the steps, hidden from sight by the thick overgrown Cedar hedges blocking her view. The noisy procession reminded her that not everyone took a long time to embrace the new day.

The flashing yellow lights and stop-arm drew to a close encapsulating the boisterous children in the bus as the diesel engine chugged off to the next stop.

Returning her attention to the computer screen, she could see a flashing alert letting her know of a new message. She read it quickly and knew it would take most of her day to deal with. But first, she would take Chase out for a walk as he had been so patiently sitting next to her.

Step three in her morning routine complete. She sat down at her computer ready for her day having pumped her lungs full of fresh air on her morning walk with Chase, invigorating her for the day.

Tomorrow, she would do it all over again; finding the pleasure in her everyday routine and observing the joy surrounding her.