Many people enjoy waking up every morning to a newspaper or popular news show to hear the latest news. Not me! I find that even while trying to avoid the daily news, I usually know basically what is happening around me just by participating in conversations with others, opening up my yahoo page in the morning and glancing through headlines or watching late night comedy shows that make fun of the daily news, so why saturate myself with it?

When I wake up in the morning, I prefer to head to the computer and read all the new posts on my Google Reader. I find other people’s lives so much more enriching than the daily news. I learn about recipes that I can actually use from gluten free bloggers, I can learn how other parents are raising their children as unschoolers, I can find support from blogger friends experiencing the ups and downs of rheumatoid arthritis, I can keep myself updated on the lives of my family and friends and I can learn from and enjoy lifestyles different than mine.

So, I want to thank each of you for keeping me company each and every morning as I sit at my laptop with a cup of Zen tea and a few quiet minutes in the morning before everyone is awake.