Dark and Ordinary

Dark and ordinary mornings start, with haptic taps from my Apple watch, and a yawning stretch, way before dawn. I glance out my window, to check, the weather because that’s the spec, that decides whether, we’re outside, or we’re down to the gym inside. “Alexa, brew,” I compel my AI thank God, she understands, and my Keurig gurgles to life. I brush the ‘ol tusks and wash my face, before wiggling into spandex and taking a place on the bench by the door where our shoes are stored. When Lisa comes out, stout coffee in hand, she slumps on the bench, with a sleepy pout. “I couldn’t sleep,” she confides with a yawn, “I barely closed my eyes - then it was dawn!” Checking my watch, I haven’t the heart, to say ‘dawn’s a half hour after we start.’ Every morning we rise and jog a five K, we decided, last year, that it’s the best way, to jump-start our brains and start our day. Poets write about love, pure and chaste, and less about morning alarms and toothpaste but in these moments, the ways we start our day, can influence our lives in interesting ways.