Good Morning Beautiful!

I remember how awful it was as a kid to be woken up in the morning. I don't think my mom was ever very good at getting us kids out of bed so dad was always the enforcer. His chosen method to wake me up was to tickle my feet. I could not sleep with my feet under the covers and apparently he could not resist the open temptation. It wasn't quite so easy with my sister, Heather. Tickling, yelling, pulling of her covers and whatever else you could think of did not even phase her. My dad ultimately found the best method for her was filling up a squirt bottle with cold water and repeatedly squirting her in the face! Now, while it worked...who really wants to start their day off like that?

So I decided early on I would try to find a kinder, gentler tactic to use with my kids. It just kind of happened one day...I started singing to them in the morning. Now those of you that know me well are thinking "kinder, gentler...sounds like torture" to have me sing to you in the morning. Thank goodness kids have unconditional love for mommies. I sing, "Good morning Beautiful, how was your night? Mine was wonderful with you by my side. When I open my eyes, and see your sweet face, it's a good morning beautiful day." It is a great song, song by several artists, but my favorite version is by Gary Allen.

The older kids don't care to hear me sing it as much any more and they wake up way before I do now with early morning seminary! But Will still loves for me to sing to him. On the days he doesn't have to wake up early for school he will often ask me to crawl back up into the top bunk with him, even after he has been up and eaten breakfast. So we crawl up to the top bunk together and I sing him my song.

Yesterday Will was in the car with me. We were listening to the radio when this song came on. Will was so excited! He said, "Mommy, mommy...listen, they are playing your song on the radio! You are famous now! I can't believe they are playing your song on the radio!"

It wasn't until then that I realized he thinks that I wrote that song especially for him and the other kids. I didn't have to heart to tell him that the song really belonged to Gary Allen and I was just borrowing it. But I wouldn't mind a few royalty checks coming my way!