Up and Atom

I have been getting up very early (for me) this week so I can spend even more time at work before I start getting phone calls and having to deal with things that aren't The Things I Need To Get Done.

It is hard work, convincing myself that 5:15 is a reasonable time to be awake and that I should not just resume sleeping until my more usual 7, but then the sun is rising and the birds are chirreeping and light begins to filter through the squirrel-ear leaves on the trees and no one else is stirring in the street except maybe a garbage truck or someone running their dog and I feel privileged to bear witness to the start of the day.

The way to work is so damn pretty, mist and lake and field, which seems unfair. Some mornings I loop Beethoven's Ninth in my car and the CD ends, rapturously, just as I pull into the parking lot.