I'm a Morning Person

And no, I do not mean I'm a morning person in the sense that I have frequently been going to bed after midnight, around 1:30 in the morning ever since I started working second shift.  I mean that I love being up and awake in the mornings and given a natural preference I would go to sleep around 9:30 and wake up sometime when the sun did.

I remember when I was little, back before my mom started waking up at 6:15 and got up somewhere around 7:30 instead (I actually don't remember what time you got up mom, I just remember being up before you a lot)  I would wake up early, grab whatever book I was currently reading and go find a quiet spot to read until it was time for breakfast and starting the day.

I used to get up at 6:30 in the morning every day, and I didn't mind it at all.  (Well, I didn't mind it most of the time).  It gave me a chance to get at the bathroom before everyone else, and then a chance to do a little reading and enjoy the quiet before my siblings woke up.

When I was in college, I woke up pretty early for a college student (I slept in until about lunchtime once or twice and hated it.  Half your day is gone!) and it was nice to get up, get ready for my day, make myself a cup of coffee and eat a pre-breakfast before the rest of my dorm started moving.  It was a quiet time to enjoy the view out my window, poke around aimlessly on the internet or read before having to start back on the books.

I'm seeing a theme here... I might have to re-name this title "I'm a Morning Person Who Reads A Lot."

Now its a rarer thing that I'm up before anyone else.  When I get the chance I try to sleep in as late as possible and it's hard to drag myself up and out of bed.  It takes a long time to wind down enough to be able to sleep when you get off work at 11:30 at night!

But sometimes... usually on days when I have the mornings off, and we've decided that we're going to go to noon mass, like today, and everyone else is sleeping in... I like to get up still, get my coffee and enjoy the peace and quiet of no one being awake.  There is a calm that comes with the morning that you don't get any other time of the day.  The sunlight is gentler, softer, the world is still relaxed and sleepy and hasn't wound itself up for the business of the day yet.  No music, no noise, no talking, no worries... just, quiet.

I am a morning person.