This seems just right as the earth tips into Autumn, a gentle easing through the predawn dark.
The darkness holds me as I check news and texts, lends a sense of ritual to making tea and putting on gym clothes. My trainers feel like a uniform as I secure the laces and walk out of the building with the first rays of light.
This is my favorite time of year.
The air is a perfect chill, inviting me to walk around one block, then another, before going up the steps to the gym, the glass doors sliding open to spill cool light onto the concrete steps. Inside, the October greetings are quieter than summer greetings, but no less welcoming. Good morning, good morning, hi girl, good morning, good to see you our convocation litany invoking the new day and tolling the canonical hour. The laps around the track are walking meditations -- jogging seems reserved for brighter hours. The sun comes up fully as I leave the track and head to the steam room, the sauna, this restoration before I face the day's toils.
There is reading, and then there is writing, but before either, there is tea, comfort in a cup as I kick off the trainers and shed the gym clothes, molting into my awake self, dropping the clothes into the washer.
Reading.
Then writing.
Then, with a second cup of tea, the day begins.
