Morning Person

It's a rainy, quiet morning here in Birmingham. Most sensible people are still in bed. This is my favorite time of the day. I have this strange love of early, early mornings...especially on days that I don't have to work.

I developed this love of early off days in college. I distinctly remember a Saturday in the beginning of my sophomore year. Strangely, I woke up really early, I guess around 5. I quietly got ready and tiptoed past the doors of sleeping roommates. I remember not knowing what I wanted to do, but I just felt a spark of adventure. My car led me to a coffee shop, where I had an early morning fix. The sensation of being super grown up invigorated me. I spent the remained of the morning driving around until other businesses were open, shopping at a thrift store, mozying the aisles of a cozy bookstore, and then home--all before my roommates arose from their slumber. I was hooked. That day I was a consecrated morning person.

Not all of my early mornings are adventurous. Many of them entail 1) coffee--strong & black, 2) reading, 3) snuggling my little black cat, and 4) maybe a little early morning news (on weekdays only! The news is forbidden on Saturday & Sunday mornings.) 5) a bit of a surf on the web.

My early morning habit is more than just a thing I like. It has become rather necessary. I am generally a real sourpuss when I have to start my day by jumping out of bed and immediately having to face my tasks.

I love the mornings because they feel full of possibility. Anything could happen. They're new, like babies. All is quiet and peace permeates. No one has had a bad day yet. It during these quiet mornings that you can sit and think, and be thankful. Your brain has not had a zillion thoughts yet; your feet have not taken thousands of steps, your eyes have on scanned the familiar, and your heart has yet to be lifted or crushed. Everything is idling. In neutral. Paused.

It is during those paused moments that you can truly reflect. My mornings are like my miniature adventures to Waldon Pond, and I wouldn't trade them in for anything.