I have had the same alarm clock since my 10th birthday. It was a gift from my Grandma and Grandpa L. I remember that birthday well...it was the big 1-0. I also got a white desk with red plastic handles and that same year I decorated my room in white, red and black and learned how to tease my bangs...it was the 80's...gimme a break ;). Who would have known that 25 years later, that same alarm clock would be waking me up for work?!? Seriously though, this clock has seen me through my middle school years in Jacksonville, FL, Brunswick, ME, Orlando, FL and my high school years in Key West. I took it to college with me and it woke me through four years of classes, changed majors, work study jobs. When I went home for the summers, I took it with me and it became part of my day in Hampton, VA where I spent the summer working temp at the shipbuilders and the next summer when I went to Spain and worked a summer job making $3.45/hr with a bunch of Spanish men teaching me curse words. It woke me up the day I graduated from Emory with no job in sight and the fear of adulthood and independence overwhelming me.
I packed it with me when I moved in to my very first apartment. My first day of work as a grown-up at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta started with the familiar "bing bing" of this machine. When I met Jeff and we decided to move me to Birmingham, it found a new home. It stirred me awake on the day that I married the man of my dreams.
Then when we began the journey to building our family, it woke me before dawn so I could make it to the fertility doctor a few times each week for tests and ultrasounds and still get to work on time. I admit that during those days, I pushed snooze a few extra times and probably just turned it off and called in sick once or twice.
This little "dream machine" was by my side on the morning that we decided to begin our journey to Lily. It was there when I decided to say sayonara to the daily grind and go back to school. My first day as a nurse, it didn't even need to buzz to wake me...I was so full of nervous excitement.
Twenty five years is a long time for any gadget to stay in working order but I have not had one day when my alarm clock has failed me. I bet my grandparents, when they shopped for the perfect gift for a ten year old nerdy kid, had no idea that I would have their gift way beyond my childhood, into adulthood and now as I face becoming a parent. However corny it is, I have really felt myself reflecting on life's landmarks lately. Maybe it's part of the new chapter that we are about to open in our lives or maybe it's just part of me getting old. Whichever, I really look forward to the morning I hear the familiar buzz, grab some suitcases and head to China to meet our little girl. That day isn't that far off. That will be the first day of a whole new set of alarm-worthy opportunities.
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