Should I ?

Today was one of those days when my mind struggled with "should I quit the paper route or shouldn't I"? In essence, I had made that decision 3 weeks ago when I turned in my written notice to quit. Gas prices sky-rocketing, chilly mornings with frosty windshields needing scraping, the depot moving all the way over to Chanhassen adding extra miles and time, my moodiness due to sleep deprivation all gave way to "Yup, I'm quitting Richard!". Keep in mind I'm making this statement to a die hard paper route carrier of 30 yrs. Someone, who's delivered the morning news 7 days a week.. week, after week, after week....who will die of a heart attack or a robbery on his actual route..... with a smile on his face. Someone who has awoken me at 3:15 every single morning for the last 17 months with his cheery "it's time to get up honey and go "throw the morning news" as he calls it. He's been cautious to reprimand me for my quitting, yet at the same time raising his left eyebrow saying "are you sure ?" Initially I took the route as the wedding was coming up and the extra cash would be helpful... hey it was paid exercise I told myself. But the hotel account I had stopped, the depot moved 8 miles and 10 minutes further each morning to pick up papers, my sub quit subbing when I wanted to be gone, gas went to 3 bucks and my body is aching for adequate sleep. So why the quandry you ask ? Well, there are certain things I really like about doing the paper route that I shall miss if I quit. For instance, this morning there was the Gemini Meteor Shower with Mike Lynch giving the play by play on WCCO at 4:30 AM... It was amazing to see things just dropping out of the sky. Then there's the horefrost the other morning where the sky was so full of ice crystals that every street light looked like a shiny white column all the way up to the heavens. And of course, there's those many deer that I stop and scold to get off the road(sorry Ria) and all the imponderables Richard and I try to guess as we listen to the Al Malmberg Show up to 5 AM..... when North Dakotan Dave Lee and Mikey Lynch show up to pick on Sid....They've become like family to us paper carriers! The biggest thing though that I'd miss is the "thought time".... My Goodness the things that go through my mind in the 60 minutes I'm out there hopping from green tube to green tube! I've prepared many lectures to my husband during that time, drafted letters to my family members that have never been sent and scripted a brochure on things my boss really needs to know. I've taken pictures of patrons flower gardens that I like in the dew of the early summer mornings. I've planned my funeral, sung the songs to the night owls that I want played at it, and had an entire conversation outloud with myself about changes I need to make. I've seen the best harvest moons of my life, the prettiest sunrises over Lake Bavaria and the sparkliest of stars. Now if I spent the 2 hrs I'm routing...... SLEEPING, just think of the time I'd lose "processing"! So I guess the jury's still out - - - with only a week to go until I'm done.... check back to see who won :-)