Good morning everyone. It’s 6:27 am and I’m in the writing chair. It’s a beautiful quiet morning, Wendy and Lucky are still asleep.
I am an early riser- this is to be expected in a person over sixty, I suppose. There was a time in my youth when I sometime slept late these days any snoozing past 8 am is unheard of. I just can’t stay in bed that long.
Waking early is probably linked to deep in the past when our ancestors woke with the sun to begin their days hunting or farming. I like it. I enjoy the peace of early morning and my first cup of coffee; I love watching the light come up and how it changes everything.
My father was often up early and out of the house before I was. Running his own business meant a great deal of responsibility so he was off to work with sunup or before. I rarely saw him in the mornings so we missed those times together.
When the children were young I made sure to be up early to help care for them. Knowing their days in our world were numbered there was nothing more special than waking them up, making their breakfast and seeing them off.
But now they are gone and I have more early morning freedom, so it’s filled with work instead. I draw or sketch, or go into the office and work on Critterz.
Sitting at the table with pen in hand and blank paper in front of me gives me joy at the possibility of creating even the smallest thing. Walking into the office when no one is there and working alone makes me feel like I’m ahead of the game, even though there is no game and life is not about winning. Life is about making and doing and being and loving.
Daybreak, 2023.
An hour or so after darkness falls I feel like a snail- I want to curl up into a shell and hide, slowing down and stopping along with the rest of world. Yes of course there were three am nights, plenty, and there will be more of them, but on an average Tuesday night ten pm is perfect for snuggling in next to Lucky and letting darkness wrap me up.
But at this exact moment dawn is breaking- there are sketches to sketch, Critters to create, the silence of the sleeping world to enjoy before the chaos hits.
Enjoy your day.
Love