Waking Up Early (at Home)

The faint blue glow of daybreak crept through my bedroom window. Soft shadows commingled with the dim illumination from outside, and the whole apartment was filled with the first evidence of day. The rooster at the house across the street hadn't started to crow yet. My neighbors in the apartment complex had left for work an hour beforehand. I stood in the front room, adjusting to the early morning quiet and the dimness of dawn before making my way to the kitchen to start the much-needed coffee.

Waking up late is a side effect of working late. After years of clocking out after 11 PM and trying to unwind after busy nights I've found myself tucking myself into bed well after 2 or 3 AM, then waking up usually seven to eight hours later, so watching the sunrise and soaking in the pace and quiet that comes with the morning is a rare treat for me, and usually I'm too tired to really appreciate any of it. Sleep usually burns my eyes, as if the sandman was a cop at a student protest in 2011, and the sense of longing for my bed is almost heartbreaking, but yesterday was different. I was just... awake.

I sat in the front room with my cup of coffee while the sun started to hit the Sierras outside my window. The pale blue sky and gray-purple granite were painted on the horizon, and the cloudless weather made the view seem more imaginary. The light through the slats of my window blinds went from blue to gold, and the world around my apartment started to wake up. The stupid rooster across the street started with his obnoxious crowing, cars headed to the high school rolled by, the delinquents finished their cigarettes in the alley by my apartment, and I was dressed and ready to face the day ahead of me.

Sometimes I wonder why I don't wake up early more often, but then I remember how rare moments I'm actually awake early are. I like my bed a whole lot, but I also like peaceful mornings and the coolness of the early part of the day. Then again, I also like being awake until the end of my shift, so my early mornings tend to remain uncommon.

They're nice when they come around, though.