Red Morning

I've really enjoyed waking up before the sun. For a good while now I'd been nursing a secret envy of those early risers. I'd see them with their worn in smiles, casually boasting how tired their predawn wake-ups made them. Somehow those few hours gave them elite status. It was like I could feel them looking down out of the side of their eyes at my slovenly life of late mornings and later nights.

Sure I was proud I could sleep in. I dreamt past all the ungodly hours into breakfasting lunch. But, inside I knew I was cheating. I wasn't sleeping in. I was just compensating, offsetting for my late night. And, though I told my self late night was when I was most productive, it wasn't true. Darkness is very forgiving. It can hide two hours of clicking for something to watch with a load of laundry. Large swatches of nothing are swallowed efficiently. And I'll tell you a secret...no vacuuming gets done in the dark. For some reason it belongs to the day.

But, now I'm one of those "morning people". I can fancy myself kin to the farmer, a brother to the garbage man. I leave work at lunch and eschew the late-night blabbermouths. I give my warmed-up smile to everyone I see, while I think to myself, "Man, I can't wait to go to sleep...I'm tired." And somehow it doesn't feel like cheating.