Waking Up Before the Sun

All my favorite people wake up before the sun. Looking back it has to all start with my father. He worked hard everyday of his life. He was a truck drive so most day he was up at least by 5 a.m. He wore a digital timex watch and this was his alarm clock. During the summer months my mother would drive him to work. This wasn’t out of necessity, but the hours he worked were long and it left very few hours in the day for my mother and father to spend together. He was always working, and she was busy running the household and raising our family. Being off on summer break I would often join my parents on the drive to my father’s work. Some days he would work in Long Beach, and occasionally he would work out of Irwindale. He drove a Concrete Truck. The trucks with the huge spinning barrels you see on the freeway. Some of my best childhood memories are of these huge trucks. I loved my father and the sacrifices he made for us, and because of his early work schedule I now admire the virtue of rising before the sun. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that only the virtuous in the world start their day before the sun, but there is something in these people that sets them apart. I think I could safely say that most of this demographic would have a strong work ethic. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy sleeping in myself, but I feel there is something sinful about sleeping away the morning hours. There is something special almost sacred about these hours of the early dawn. The air feels different, the sky is reborn new not yet stain with the pollution of everyone’s daily commute, and every corner of the world is full of possibilities. I sometimes forget to value this time. For a large portion of my adult life I was not what you would call an early riser. My eyes would open early, but I would somehow always convince myself to stay in bed another 10 minutes. 10 minutes would turn into 15 then 30. It was until later in life that I met someone that reminded me of the virtues of the early morning. Her name was Jadie. Jadie somehow always gets up early even is she stays up late. Not sure how she does it. Personally there are times I find it exhausting just trying to keep up with her, but I try and in trying I somehow feel connected to my Dad again. I haven’t been consistent in my pursuit of the early morning. Jadie would agree that consistency is my great nemesis in life. I am learning I need to recommit myself on a daily basis to all my goals.

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