MORNING PEACE

I was sitting on the couch reading a book, the sun just starting to rise, when my son Alex came into the room.

“Morning.” He said as he headed to the kitchen. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty good.” I said laying my book open on the couch. “How about you?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen.

He had the kettle in his hand and was filling it with water.

“Can you put enough in there for me to have some?” I asked.

“Sure.”

I went over to the cabinet, took out my cup, got a tea bag, and dropped it into the cup. “I don’t know if you noticed it or not but I wasn’t on my phone when you came in the room.” I placed the cup on the counter.

Alex put the kettle on its warming stand and turned it on. “I did notice you were reading a book.”

“That’s because I’ve decided that I’m going to be phone free for the first hour every day from now on.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter top, a self-congratulatory smile on my face. “It’s my New Year’s resolution.”

Alex laughed. “It’s the middle of February!”

“It’s never too late to make one.” I reminded him.

“Well, I’m proud of you.” He came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Your phone seemed to be attached to your hand from the moment you’d wake up.”

I couldn’t help but sigh. “Yeah, it was getting kind of ridiculous.”

Just then my husband Steven came into the kitchen holding out my phone. “You forgot this on your bedside table.”

I kept my arms crossed not wanting to take the phone. “I didn’t forget it. I’m going phone free for the first hour every morning from now on.”

Steven shrugged his shoulders and placed the phone on the counter top. “All right. But it’s been ringing non-stop since I got out of the bathroom.”

I looked at the clock and then Alex, a grimace on my face. “I’ve got another twenty minutes.”

“You can do this.” He reminded me as he went to the cabinet to get out a mug.

“But what if it’s work?” I argued.

Alex shook his head. “It’s twenty minutes. Nothing’s that important that it can’t wait twenty minutes.”

My phone rang again. Alex picked it up and clicked the side to stop the ringing. “I’ll keep this from you for the next twenty minutes.” He laughed as he dropped my phone into his pocket.

“I think you might have to.” I said as I felt my hands getting sweaty. “This is harder than I thought.”

The kettle had come to a boil and Alex poured the water into my cup. Once he was done he handed it to me. “Take this and go back to reading your book.” He said. “I’ll bring you your phone when the time is up.”

“Okay.” I sighed as I heard the sound of a text message coming through. “Can you at least check it and make sure it isn’t an emergency?” I asked.

Alex slipped it out of his pocket and took a look. “It’s not an emergency.” He said as he dropped it back in his pocket.

“Promise?” I asked.

“Promise.” He said as he looked at his watch. “You’ll see in about eighteen minutes.”

“Okay.” I headed back to the couch. Putting my cup on the coffee table and picking up my book I sat down and took a deep breath. “You can do hard things.” I said under my breath. “You’ve got this.”