12.10.2006

Enjoy the silence

Besides being a fabulous song by Depeche Mode, enjoy(ing) the silence is something I relish from time to time. For me, it typically occurs during the early morning hours before the house and even the neighborhood are awake.

This morning I got up around 6:30. A good hour earlier than I normally get up on a Sunday, unless we need to be somewhere early. No particular reason other than I just woke up at that time, needed to answer nature’s call, then couldn’t get back to sleep. When I saw that it was 6:30 and not the middle of the night I decided to just stay awake.

At that hour, at least in this house, things are pretty quiet. No TVs blaring. No toddlers chattering. Heck, the cats aren’t even fighting at this hour on a Sunday. The only sounds from my house are my son breathing (he fell asleep on the bed while watching a movie last night, as did I, so my husband left him here for whatever reason), the sounds of the furnace periodically coming on (must be below 65 degrees!), the silent whirring of my laptop, and the Tivo hard drive crackling every so often. Must be recording a Modern Marvels or something.

The neighborhood is even fairly silent. No traffic at all on the street. Nobody milling about. Really no sound from airplanes either. This morning, however, around 7:10 the silence was “broken” by the Sunday paper being delivered. Normally this would be a “typical” sound, however I think the paper should be delivered prior to 7:10 a.m.!

This is prime time for me. A mere hour or hour and a half I get to myself. During this time I can blog, check email, catch up on my favorite comic strips, blogs, or bulletin boards, read news, or just sit and think (or obsess) over things.

This time of year the sun isn’t quite up yet. It’s fairly dark, but if I look out my window I can see the pink and orange hue of the sunrise on the horizon. I can also see the ginormous, obnoxious power lines off in the not-so-far distance too.

The best part of these mornings is if I’m able, I can observe the neighborhood waking up. Little by little it gets a little noisier. In my house. On my street. On warmer days I might be inclined to get out and take a walk. Usually it’s just me and the odd jogger or dog walker.

Now as the clock winds up to ~8:00, my world is waking up. My son is up demanding milk. Chocolate milk. Playhouse Disney, specifically Dance Around by Ralph’s World, is playing on the TV. A few more cars have went up and down the street and I can hear the air traffic, both for the small airport near my house and the larger commercial flights heading to DIA – we’re in the landing pattern so we hear ‘em. Doesn’t bother me one bit. I guess I’d better get motivating and actively start my day.

P.S. I’ve upgraded my blog. Perhaps now that will get my butt in gear for the redesign I teased about last summer.

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