Mornings Like Mom

For some time now, I have realized and accepted that I am becoming more and more like my mother. We now work in the same field and have similar professional talents. We have the same general set of values regarding how people should treat each other and what the best ways are to resolve conflict. We are both into conscious awareness, meditation, reading and writing about self discovery, and Jungian analysis. We even look more and more alike as the years go by, especially now that I've let my hair go naturally wavy and wear my glasses more frequently.

I've noticed that I also have in me some of the tendencies that my mom exhibited when I was a child, but has now successfully managed to deal with in a healthy way. Several traits became especially apparent in Chimoio, like the obsessive organizing of my closet and clothes, the tendency to be bossy when under stress, and the creation of unattainably high standards, both for myself and for my friends, housemates and family.

While we were in Brasil last month, my mom made a prediction to Ricardo as we were discussing this subject:

"Just wait," she said, "at some point in your lives Ali will start waking up at 4am because it is the only time she'll have to herself."

Given my relationship with mornings, I've never thought this a likely scenario. But wouldn't you know it - even in this I have to admit I'm becoming more like my mom, who has woken up at or before 4am ever since I was born (apparently when I was younger, I was a huge fan of the pre-dawn hours). Now that Rico and I are in Maputo, something has changed about the way my body and mind deal with waking up early. It is now a pleasure, and I look forward to a couple hours alone each day to have a cup of tea, do some meditation and stretches, update my blog, and enjoy the stillness.

Granted, I'm now waking up between 6:30 and 7:30 - a far cry from 4am, but definitely a move in that direction considering I used to wake up in Chimoio between 9 and 10am every day. At this rate, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 4am wake-up call starts even before I have a child...