The Magic of Early Mornings

I am a morning person, always have been. Even in my teen years, when bodies need a lot more sleep and kids tend to sleep until noon if permitted, I was up not later than 8:00 a.m. on a weekend morning. Okay, now, that hour seems really late to me, but, again, I was a teen back then. I remember one summer morning waking up, and it was just about 8:00, and I freaked. It was SO late. I jumped out of bed, and got busy taking clothes to the dry cleaner, etc.

Throughout my twenties and thirties, my body continued the morning trend. Even the few years I worked early or late evening shifts (in my late twenties as an ESL teacher, and again later in my late thirties), even though I'd go to bed at midnight, I was up and raring to go by 8:00. I wanted to enjoy my hours, to get things done - gym, errands, socializing. When living and working in Japan, I was up by 5 or 5:30 a.m. and out for a bike ride or run by 6:00. It was magic, those early mornings then. The sky bright, but the roads fairly quiet, with just the odd farmer or elderly walker. There was a feeling of peace that permeated the air and saturated the mind.

And here I am in my forties, and I'm still a super early bird. It's 5 a.m. as I lie in bed with my second cup of tea and type this blog entry. It's still dark outside, and it's rather cold for this time of year, early April. But still I look forward to the morning ahead. Will I take Lola, my lovely puppy, for a pre-dawn walk, where we will be about the only souls about as the sky turns light? Or should I hit the gym, where the morning crowd is a small and friendly one? I've already made friends among the morning gym folk, for we morning people are a special lot! We are rare birds :)

There really is a magic to early mornings, to the time right around dawn. The quiet, the coolness, the birds as they come awake and start chirping, the lack of human activity. I welcome this bit of peace into my world, into my day, and a little bit of exercise really makes me feel good all day long, too.