I woke up to the sounds of a rooster and a woodpecker. They pulled me out of a deep sleep a little too fast…you know that feeling you get when you get up out of bed, half in your dream, with a dizzy feeling still in your head? 5:56 a.m. My dog’s face is staring at mine from the side of the bed, her nose nudging my hand. At the sight of my dog who has no waist, you would not understand her pre-dawn starvation. Part of me wants to go back to bed. Most of me is happy to be the lucky one who gets to watch the sunrise again. Most of me wins and I let the dogs go do their business while I fumble with the coffee maker.
Something about this place, the time, the sunrise, the sounds of the rooster and the woodpecker, makes me want to grab my notebook and write, even though I don’t have anything to write about. The freshness of it all forces me to give it a try, like it deserves the effort at least.
I watch the bright ball of light come up behind the mountain and how it changes the way the field and the trees look, minute by minute. The rooster is still calling, announcing the morning over and over again.
I can’t plug in out here. I find something else to connect with instead and it too has light and sound, and conversation but is less judgmental. This connection calms me, fills me with ease and peace. I feel content with it. Nothing is missing, nothing is wanting (although I do want another cup of coffee).
At home my daughter gets up and plugs in, a routine that I have grown more and more annoyed with even though I do not have much right to be annoyed as I stare at her over the top of my computer. Today she begins the day with a bike ride exploration to the house with the rooster, our dog as companion. Her options out here are the rooster and the woodpeckers, mother nature, rocks and trees, a book or a game… This is a very good thing.
The sounds and sights and feel of this kind of connection nourish the soul. It pulls you into your moment and in the most simple way, makes you feel alive.