5 AM

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:40:00 -0400

Every day I wake up a little bit earlier. My alarm goes off (Brittany Spears’s “Toxic” as performed by Yael Naim is my wake-up song on my iPhone alarm — a solid choice, if you’re looking for a good alarm sound), Allen hits HIS snooze button in his unconscious stupor then rolls over, I slowly sit up and try to muster the power to stand.

Waking up early to do some work-ahead school reading (only 24 days left!!! Eeeeee!) is kind of changing my life. For my one class, I need to read the Bible from start to finish by late October. Reading it at this fast pace is a truly different experience than taking it one bit at a time - which is, by definition, done out of context anyway. It’s vivid and alive when you read it fast. I remember when I had to read “Ulysses” in college. At the beginning I felt really overwhelmed, but then as I took the “like-a-bandaid” approach and tried a little speed reading, the story was so rich. And now I get to do this with a book that has so much value to me. It’s pretty life-giving.

I do all my reading on my front porch. It’s actually chilly (yes, chilly) in the morning which is brilliant! Makes the whole experience more special for me. It’s this special quiet (I had almost forgotten what that was), dark, chilly time I have with just my books, my favorite sweatshirt, my front porch, and the coming morning. It’s like another world.

So yes, maybe I am kind of becoming a morning person. (Tectonic plates just shifted.) But when you have a purpose, some quiet, no other people, and a subject to study that you LIVE for, it’s surprisingly easy.

life in the whirlwind

5 AM