6am- alarm goes off
6:30am- out of bed, shower. Tom goes downstairs and feeds the cats and puts on the coffee
7:15ish- leave house for train station (Tom drops me off and then drives to work, he'll be there by 8am)
7:25ish- get on train
7:55ish- get to Boston train station
8:30ish- get to the office

Theoretically, up at 6:30, on the train by 7, at work at 8. (I pick up a bagel on my way in and eat at my desk.)

In practice, up at 6:55, on the train by 7:20, at work 8:15ish. Today I'm staying late to have drinks with a co-worker who is getting married on Sunday, so I arrived at the more leisurely hour of...8:30.

A little more Obama love - the girls held back so that the younger kids could win the race. And the puppy arrives today.

Hey, Sophia, check this out:

What your commute might have been.

One of my favorite things about living in college towns is the commute. I can't imagine needing an hour to get to work (twice a day! every day!). I can walk to my work in 30 minutes and by car (which is our usual method) it's more like 5.

Theoretically (and I emphasize the theory) up a little before 7:30, shoot the cat, read paper, shower, dress, coffee all before 8:35, in by 9.

Except it really goes: glare blearily at clock at 7 after the radio and light have been on since 6:45, decide based on imaginary things that I don't have to wake up, wake in a panic at 7:35, rush madly to shoot the cat, stare stupidly at kettle and stove to figure out how that works, boil water, make coffee while maybe reading the few articles with content in the paper, stumble to shower, spend 5 minutes face in spray until I remember I have a nine o'clock meeting, rush madly through shower while drinking coffee, get out, scramble to get into the car before 8:35, curse all the red lights and idiot drivers, scramble into meeting without having read email. And then wonder if I turned the burner off.

And they call me a grown up.

I can't imagine needing an hour to get to work (twice a day! every day!).

Yeah, it makes me bananas if I think about it. A not-long work day means I'm out of the house from 8 to 7 most days.

I like my commute - it's almost the only time of day I get to me alone inside my own head. No toddler or clients demanding attention, just me and my headphones.

I get to work about an hour after I get up. When exactly I get up is highly variable. On average, I probably get out of bed at 8:20, leave the house a little after 9, and get to work around 9:30. But sometimes I don't make it in until 10:30. And occasionally I'm here at 8, which startles our secretary.

My mornings are usually me getting up around 8:30 and then stumbling to the bathroom to shower and get ready and then head out the door by around 9:15/9:30. At least, that's the goal. Yesterday, it was up at 9:45 and out the door by 10:05, and today it's up at 7:30 to do laundry and planning on being out the door by 9:45. My drive into work is only about 15 minutes (five miles), so that's no longer the big factor on my starting time like it was when I lived in Oak Park and drove 35 miles to work.

For the next two mornings, I have to be in by 7:00 to do the morning load for a co-worker who's off for Passover, but at least I get to leave by 3:30 on those two days.