The Tiny Rituals That Keep Love Alive

Some mornings begin with an alarm clock.

I got rid of mine years ago.

Who wants to wake up to a blasting, flashing alert that throws your body into hyper mode first thing in the morning? What am I… a firefighter?

I like to wake up slowly.

My mornings begin with a little Chi Gong, a quart of water, and then- only then- a cup of coffee. I’ve noticed the coffee tastes better after I’ve fully awakened.

Growing up in a family of ten kids, mornings had their own soundtrack: coffee brewing, cereal bowls clinking, someone looking for a missing shoe, and my dad already dressed in his Hull Park & Rec shirt and grass-stained white Chuck Taylors, heading out to another day of summer activities.

Years later, it’s funny what survives.

It’s the little rituals:

The way someone reached for their coffee mug.

The familiar “Good morning.”

The feeling that home had officially awakened.

When Brad sent me the rough sketch for this week’s Green House comic, I noticed a little mouse “stirring” in the background.

I figured he was introducing a new character.

He was.

I just didn’t realize who it was.

As I inked the pages, the story unfolded. The mouse wasn’t just a mouse. He was Joe- Doris’s husband- finding a way to be a small part of her mornings again.

That made me pause.

Years ago, when I developed Doris, I modeled her after my own mom. Without saying a word beforehand, Brad turned the little mouse into my dad.

By the time I lettered the last panel-

“Good Morning, Joe.”

-I had to smile.

The Green House has always been about the little things that make a life.

Whether it’s a compost pile, an earthworm, or the sudden inspiration to draw a tiny pair of Chuck Taylors on a cartoon mouse (why didn’t I think of that sooner?), love has a way of showing up in the smallest places.

Maybe that’s enough to make it a good morning.

Peter