Morning

The word for today is MORNING. MORNING is when the day begins. But when does the day begin? Does it begin at 12 am, when the date of the calendar changes, or at 5 or 6 am when the sun rises and the rhythms of earth start anew?

I am not a MORNING person. While I do appreciate the sunrise, the fresh dew on the grass, the quiet before the day's commotion, I much prefer the time just before and just after sunset. The end of the day is my favorite time; it is a time of relief and satisfaction, a time to anticipate the moon and the stars, a time to savor the peace and rest that awaits.

At the beginning of the day, each MORNING, I wake up not knowing where I am. For the last year or more, I have not had to be anywhere first thing in the MORNING. I have been able to take the dog out and then visit with a neighbor or return to bed for another hour. And while this may sound like sloth, it is how I let my thoughts resettle after the rumble of sleep, it is how I locate myself in the day. In the early morning I can feel my tectonic plates shifting, finding balance.

This week I'm going to a training that starts each day at 8 am in the MORNING. I wake up at 6:30 with a blank mind. All I can think of are tasks, things that must be accomplished before I leave the house. I walk the dog, shower, put on presentable clothes, earrings, make sure I have my makeup, cell phone, wallet, car keys and work documents. I start the car and join the MORNING traffic. I know this is how the vast majority of working Americans live. But where are my original thoughts? I am going along a road with lots of other cars. I am going, going; I am gone.

At the training today, our crew leader told us that starting next week we will not have to start our project work until 9:30. I felt like singing and skipping down the hallway at the break. I felt like she had given me my life back. I think I can figure out where I am by 9:30 each MORNING. I think I can figure out who I am. I can stay up at night and write this blog. I can take a longer walk with Rosie in the morning. I can be a person, not an automaton.

I was very, very scared.

Today I offer two songs.

The first, the one I prefer, is a peaceful vision of MORNING.
Cat Stevens' aka Yuseef Islam's "Morning Has Broken."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw&feature=related

The second is "Let the Day Begin," by The Call. A good morning commute song, a good I have to get energized song. It was one of Al Gore's campaign theme songs in 2000, and we all know how that turned out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXywSZ-Zdmg