Here at EDLM, we spend a lot of time reading our volunteer’s day diaries and looking for patterns and themes.
One of the founding premises of EDLM is that everyday life—while it differs for everyone, and is influenced by myriad factors and influences—is in some senses universal. We may come from different backgrounds, have different resources, move in different circles, believe different things. But we all have an everyday life.
Banal as it may seem, the strongest recurrent element in the EDLM archive of diaries may be waking up. A vast majority of our day diaries begin with it. And it makes sense—our sense of “one day” flows from the repetitive cycle of waking and sleep. Waking and sleep may be as close to universal as any human experience. We may differ in many ways, but we all live on a planet that rotates every 24 hours.
We have a new set of diaries to share, and we thought we would invite you into them by noting the variety of ways we woke up on Feb. 13, 2024.
A touch too early.
At first light, with no alarm.
With a good, old-fashioned “hurkel-durkel” (we didn’t know what it was either—Eds.).
Ready for a busy day.
Early, but rested.
“With a struggle”.
“a smidge early”.
Thwarted from snuggling by a large cat.
Early, but that’s good: it will help with training for a race.
In a very, very good mood. (Did we say annoyingly so? Of course we didn’t—Eds.)
Prayerfully, amid some sadness. And…
At 3 p.m. (!!), after baking bread all night.