It was a beautiful autumn morning, and yet, in spite of the beauty that surrounded me at that very moment, I was totally and completely alone. My wife had left for her job, my two children were in school, and I didn't have much to do. There had been a storm that had swept through the area recently, and even though the storm had subsided, its effects were still lingering on, and due to those effects, the place I worked for decided to close its doors until it could be repaired and brought back to service.

Until such a time as it could be restored, however, we became laborers without a job. Now mind you, I wasn't suffering or anything. I was still receiving a paycheck, as were my fellow co-workers, but I felt greater loneliness than I ever had before.

I was at that moment still in bed, and I knew that in spite of the comfort which that bed provided, that I could not remain sleeping in it forever. Sooner or later, I would have to release myself from its loving embrace and head off to face the day. It might be a slow, tedious, incredibly boring day, but it was still a day that I nonetheless had to face.

Therefore, I stood up from the bed. As was my custom, I went to the restroom. Staring at myself in the mirror, I saw that I was still in my pajamas. Stubble had grown in my face during the night, and I looked somewhat worn out and disheveled.

To be fair to the mirror, it did not lie. These past couple of days had been some of the hardest days I ever had to deal with. Sure, I may not have had the pressures of work mounting themselves on top of me, as they so often did, but those pressures were merely replaced with my own internal struggle and conflict. I wanted to love my wife and children, and in my mind, I believed that I loved them dearly. I could only hope that sentiment was shared by them, as I didn't really know what their true reactions were to what I brought to them.

I took a long, deep sigh and brushed my teeth and washed my face. Even though I may not have been at my job at that moment, I knew that I needed to be dressed. After all, in spite of how comfortable they were, I could not stay in my pajamas.

However, the first priority of mine wasn't making myself look presentable. My first priority was to eat breakfast, and as a result, I exited the room and walked to the kitchen.

I saw that my wife had left over some food for me to have for breakfast on the stovetop. Grabbing the food, I heated it up slightly on the microwave and poured myself a cup of coffee. Once the food was heated, I sat at the counter with my breakfast and proceeded to eat it.

It wasn't a lavish breakfast, not by any means, nor was it indulgent, but a breakfast it still was, and I was left nourished and satisfied by the meal which I had eaten.

After I finished eating breakfast, I returned back to my room. Once I was in the room, I grabbed my pair of clothes for the day and went on to take a shower.

The shower refreshed and reinvigorated me, and once I finished it, I exited the shower, brushed my teeth, shaved, applied deodorant, and put on the clothes I needed for the day.

I stared at myself one last time and exited the bathroom. Now fully dressed, I was truly ready to commence the day.