We watched an Ice Cube movie again yesterday….the one where his family is rebuilding the house.

It’s pretty funny….but a couple of times watching it is probably enough.

Towards the beginning of the movie, he’s getting up early to get some work done at his quiet kitchen table.

He has a plan.

But, soon, his stepson wants a poptart…..and his stepdaughter is up and has issues of her own….and then it all hits the fan and he’s covered with food and his new wife tells him that they’re expecting twins.

All he wanted to do was get up early and have some quiet time.

Of course, this prompts him to go out into the country and find a “fixer upper” in a small town outside of the city.

A “bigger house” is surely the thing that will fix the problem.

Then things really hit the fan.

Some parts in these movies resonate a little harder than they should.

I’m sitting here, typing this, and Nate is in the other room watching a cartoon.

How early do you need to get up to find a splinter of peace?

Of course, if I wasn’t up, Nate would be in our bed still….waking up Sparrow and noisily trying to integrate himself into a quiet morning routine….so it’s good that I was ready to pop out of bed….and that he followed shortly after….even though he said that he wanted to sleep with Mommy.

I don’t know if Jenny kicked him out or not….but he’s out with me now.

Which is great, really.

I love Nate.

He’s hilarious…but a powderkeg of emotions.

He’s a beehive that gets noisy if I poke it with a stick.

These kids are wildcards.

So I don’t know how early I need to get up to hit that sweet quiet zone that I’m not used to still.

I downloaded an audiobook version of Thoreau’s “Walden” ( on librivox.org ….a pretty darn cool site….tons of public domain books read by people from all over the world….good classics for good listening to at work….all free )….so in the midst of any craziness that comes along, I should be able to find out what “peace” is really about.

At least hear some of Thoreau’s feelings about the matter.

What the heck is Nate watching? Oh…Inspector Gadget.

What the heck.

The morning is the morning….whether it’s quiet or not.

I’d rather spend a noisy morning with Nate than a peaceful morning with no prospect of a “Nate” being around.

My blessings are easy to count.

But…..how early do I need to get up to pretend that I have a chunk of quiet in my life still?