When no one is awake

I got up with my husband at 4:30AM this morning. This is not unusual, I usually wake up with him, have breakfast, pack his lunch and hang out till he leaves. I love best when he works his early shift, because it gives me a reason to be up at this time. I have always had jobs that start early in the morning. Even in college where I worked at a coffee shop, I was the opening person. I love early morning hours, times when no one else is around. I like the silence, the thoughtfulness of the dawn. I like the feeling that I am up and about, doing something useful, while others sleep. It's the ultimate private time. Before the weight of a day of words gets to me. I guess it is a time of weightlessness, a time where there is no pressing needs. I looked up on the computer thesaurus's to find another word for early: it came up with "youthful, first and before time". I think these all describe how I feel in the dark of a winter's morning.

At this hour, I give myself the peace to just move around in a sleepy body. A body so grateful for that first cup of coffee that the smell and taste is almost better than any meal I could eat. The first moment when I put my dog outside, standing in the door, inhaling the air made alive by its coolness. Feeling a Christmas thrill when I'm greeted with fog. I love the way clouds wrap the world. The warmth of house lights as they diffuse across the mist, and I love the feeling of the moisture as the mist settles on my skin feeling like the soft breath of the planet. A lot of my friends and my husband think I'm crazy for getting up early. That's okay, because right now, in this dark time, I'm alone, drinking coffee and totally myself.