cantankerous
having a difficult and contrary disposition
Synonyms: crotchety, ornery
stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
If you were to look up me up in the dictionary during almost any time of the day the definition would read: docile, harmless, slightly dotty, on occasion uncontrollably giggly. Easily confused.
If, however, you were to look me up in the same dictionary early morning (and by early I mean any time before coffee (BC)) the definition would read entirely differently. It would go something like this: Cantankerous, having a difficult and contrary disposition, crotchety, ornery, on occasion known to be stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate. Yes basically I am a text-book case.
And there is a reason. No, not an excuse. A reason. It is called home school.
Surely I am not the only homeschooling mum to get a tinsy bit carried away with my school planning? There must be others out there who are excited by weird historical facts like animals being put on trial and often being sentenced to death in the middle ages; or disgusted at our very own heritage of slavery dealing and the rejection of aboriginals of Australia back when we British ‘founded Australia’. Tell me I am not alone in my impatience to teach the children tidbits of fascinating knowledge I have just taught myself in the course of school planning? Or in my anticipation, which forbids sleep, of the bacteria growing from the sink versus the toilet…honestly, life is waaay too interesting to waste sleeping.
For years I didn’t sleep and happily mulled away hours each night cogitating on everything I would be sharing with the children the next day. Thing is, I now sleep (after 40 years of excruciating but productive insomnia). And sleep makes me grumpy in the morning. There I said it. Hello, I am Claire and I am cantankerous (but only BC). Coffee has an extraordinary effect, because it brings to mind all the aforementioned nightly excitement which then comes tumbling out over the course of the day, making me a much better home schooling mummy than I would be if I had no caffeine based mood enhancer.
My son now counter attacks the cantankerous-ness by making me a coffee. He wanders into my room, wafting about the glorious scents of freshly ground, freshly made coffee. I wake up, am instantly handed a coffee and am grunted at. I grunt incoherently back. He leaves, fully cognisant of our short interlude. My son, you see, has been blessed with the same mind. He is slightly ornery in the morning and requires a freshly brewed coffee to make all right in his world. We understand each other. And our morning conversations have become a ritual I enjoy. Okay, conversations is stretching it slightly. In fact enjoy is stretching it slightly. Let’s just say that I am grateful for a son who brings me coffee each morning so that I do not need to be cantankerous. At least not with any witnesses.
