It starts you up and sets your pace. Whether you pry yourself out of bed or spring into action at the sound of the alarm, morning routines are a critical part of the work day. They also provide a glimpse into what makes us tick. Here, four busy women reveal the details of their daily rituals:
Patricia Galloway, executive director of the Lupus Foundation of Illinois, makes a point of spending time each morning with her 15-year-old son. Up by 6 a.m., she has coffee, gets ready and leaves the house by about 6:45 so she can attend church at 7. Back home at 7:35, she gets her son up and prepares his vegetarian breakfast, usually fruit and hot cereal or a bagel. While he’s eating, she often irons a shirt for him.
They leave the house at 8:05 in order to make his 8:20 pickup at the bus stop. She then heads back home to eat her own breakfast–as a devotee of the Atkins diet, she typically cooks bacon and eggs. At the same time, she makes phone calls and might throw in a load of laundry. By 9, she’s ready to leave her Oak Forest home for the half-hour drive to her office in Beverly.
– – –
Rondi Reed, an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, has a schedule that frequently changes. But becoming a dog owner in November, says Reed, necessitated forming the bones of a routine. “He’s adapting to the life of a theater dog,” she says.
Reed is currently playing Mrs. Micawber in the company’s production of “David Copperfield.” After she wakes up at 8:30 or 9 a.m., her first priority is to take Boo for a walk and get a paper. “Despite the bad winter weather, with a dog, you’re forced to get out. It gets me out of my self-obsessive actor state.”
Then she comes back home, reads the paper and has breakfast (high-protein cereal and two large cups of coffee). She must eat breakfast and take insulin every morning.
Because she doesn’t have to be at the theater until 6:30 p.m., she has time for things like returning phone calls, checking in with her agent or doing laundry.
Some days, there’s the possibility of a little extra sleep.
“I don’t usually go to bed until 2 a.m. so I’m a little prone to nap,” she says, adding that she likes her unorthodox working hours and that it would be hard for her to get into a 9-to-5 routine.
– – –
Kim Davis Ambrose, parent resource specialist for the Office of High School Development, Chicago Public Schools, says the hardest part of her mornings is keeping her kids focused on tasks. To streamline her activities, she prepares as much as she can the night before and counts on her husband to help.
Ambrose sets the alarm for 6:30 a.m. and is usually out of bed by 6:40. Her first job is to make sure her 8-year-old son gets up and gets dressed. Meanwhile, Ambrose’s 15-year-old daughter sets her own alarm clock for 6 and leaves the house an hour later to catch the bus.
Once her son is attired, Ambrose sits him down to eat a “quick and convenient breakfast” like oatmeal or cereal. While he’s eating, Ambrose showers, puts on makeup and gets dressed, which she estimates takes about 30 minutes.
Next, she does a few household chores and figures out what the family will eat for dinner that night. If there’s time, she grabs a piece of fruit for breakfast.
She tries to leave the house by 7:50 a.m., though sometimes she doesn’t make it out til 8. After making sure her son gets dropped off at her mother’s (so her mother can take him to school) it’s on to work.
– – –
Ann Marie Walsh, a partner in the law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook and mother of three, says she has “a pretty easy schedule.”
She and her husband both pitch in at their home in Western Springs. They try to take care of as much as possible–helping the kids with homework, arranging play dates and making lunches–the night before.
But the key to her arrangement, she says, is her “very dependable and very loving” nanny.
Walsh usually is up and has made the bed by 7 a.m. Next, she spends about 20 minutes showering, putting on makeup and getting dressed. “I get dressed very fast,” she says, “twice as fast as the kids.”
Her 13-year-old gets up on his own at 7. Walsh wakes up the 9-year-old at 7:30 and lets the 6-year-old sleep until 8. Her husband gets breakfast for the oldest child, who leaves the house at 7:45. The nanny comes at 7:30 and feeds the younger two children, who need to leave at 8:40.
Walsh leaves between 7:30 and 8. She has coffee on the train but does not eat breakfast until she arrives downtown.
On the weekday that she works out with a trainer, she’s up by 6. And roughly one day a week, she goes out of town, which means she leaves the house at 4:30 or 5 a.m.
———-
e-mail: jfitzgerald@tribune.com
