Rodriguez: Burning midnight oil produces rewards

Ten years ago, when I was thirty-something, it took practice, but I finally learned how to become a coffee drinker. Now that I’m forty something, I’m trying to master another ritual of gracefully growing a bit older and wiser — getting up early.

Getting up early is for the birds, be us spring chickens or retiring roosters. I feel like the former, a spring chicken afraid to spread its wings and fly too early in the morning. I practiced this summer, trying to beat the sun at dawn as I took morning rosary walks around the pond, but I only won the race about half the time.

As a child, I thought sipping coffee made me feel grown up. My sister Becky and I felt special when Grandma Chaya poured us coffee into our play dishes. But then as a teen, college student, and then young adult mom, coffee felt like it was for old people. I was a Coca-Cola-for-breakfast-drinking, too-cool-for-coffee chick. But then I slowly started feeling the urge to take that first sip. Now I am dependent on the perker to feel perky.

Now that I am back behind my teaching desk at school for the fall again, getting up early is still a battle. I’m getting to work on time, but I want to get there even earlier. Why? Well, you know what they say about the early bird? It catches the worm. And as for the early teacher, well, this one here finds more paperwork to create for herself, oh, and for her students. I’m not into saving the trees. I’m into saving the ABCs, which not only consists of LOL, BTW and OMG, but all the other consonants and vowels before and after that.

My grandson, Giovanni Baeza, who is now going to kindergarten at L.L. Brown Elementary in Portales, is learning “The Disco ABCs.” That rocks for me, as long as it doesn’t involve saving trees. By that I mean, I want him reading, reading, reading and not taking any shortcuts in the process. That reading foundation is essential.

What does this have to do with waking up early? Well, I read a Facebook posting which I plan to post in my classroom. It reads, “Success comes from the effort you make after you are tired.” I believe that. Sometimes that tiredness can be early in the morning, too, from getting up and trying to make a real difference, rather than hitting snooze a couple of times. At my not-so-old, but not-so-young, age I’ve found that the most rewarding successes come after burning the midnight oil, and often times, well after you’ve run out of oil. I’ve learned to not worry about who’s doing their part, and who’s not, just to do my job the best I can, always going above and beyond. In unexpected moments, I will see its fruits.

Helena Rodriguez is a Portales native. Contact her at:

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