Question from the BlogHer Facebook page – What is the most important step in your routine to start your morning right?

For those of you who’ve read my blog for a while, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought the answer is coffee, but coffee (while important) is only a superficial ritual for me. The most important ritual I have in the morning occurs before I ever even get out of bed – I always roll over and hug my husband and ask him if he got a good night’s sleep. Other questions (and sometimes full blown conversations, depending on the time of year and how little time I’ve had to talk with him) come afterward, but that’s always the first thing I do. I refuse to get out of bed until I’ve done so unless Mother Nature is calling me to the bathroom, in which case I just crawl back into bed with him for a few minutes when I’m done. It’s just not time to get up until I’ve made sure Bill is ok and ready to start the day.  This makes the mornings when he’s out of town or has to be up and off to work before me really difficult. I don’t sleep well when he’s not with me anyway, but when I have to get up by myself, it’s almost physically hard to wake up. I don’t stay in bed, because seriously, what’s the point, but when I get up without him, I actually feel more sluggish and foggy than usual (and I’m not a morning person so that says a lot). No amount of coffee can ever overcome missing my man and our “good morning” ritual when he’s away.