living at home is such a drag

I have not seen the sky this morning yet, and it's almost afternoon.

As the son, naturally I get stuck with a room on the basement floor, while everyone else sleeps on the second floor - parents, sister, a computer room, and even the guest bedroom where my other sister usually sleeps when she visits. She is visiting this week.

Sleeping on the lowest level of the house has its perks... sometimes. It stays cold down here year round. So while the rest of those upper level family members sweat in their high class bedrooms, I can at least retreat to my chilled hole in the floor, and wrap myself in a comforter... even in the midst of summer.

Usually the house stays pretty quiet in the mornings. My young sister goes to school before the sun rises, my father to work even earlier, my sister lives in New Orleans, and when Stepmom has not gone out in the morning, she often sticks to the second floor.
But, today is different. Dad is off work all week, the older sister is in town, the younger sister is out of school for the summer, and Stepmom wakes up with everyone else now. And everyone wakes up when Dad wakes up.

See the basement floor is cool and quiet, but the first floor is all hardwood. Every word spoken, every conversation, can be heard clear as day below. Every step that is taken echoes. Every time any water faucet is turned open, the orchestra of pipes running throughout my ceiling hiss. And when the youngest finally rises from her coffin and hovers downstairs, the screeching begins, and of course, the television begins its regular operating hours of ALL DAY.

I can usually sleep through some of this, or doze in and out, but its the water hissing that kills it.

Finally it is noon...
I think I will quietly sneak and creak my way up stairs to a bowl of cereal and a glass of sweet tea - thank you, New Orleans.
Maybe if I don't encounter any of the beasts, they won't harass me about how late they think I have "slept."
Maybe I will get a chance to enjoy the partly cloudy blue sky, some fresh air, and decide that today can still be a good day.

I'll put on my swim trunks, and have some Wheaties.