Thursday, November 7, 2013

Do You Hear What I Hear?

I live for early morning quiet.

Yeah, I’m one of those.  If I’ve gotten some time to sleep well, and get up in the morning while it’s still dark, and it’s just me and the new day, it’s a good day.

There’s just something about the softness of silence that wraps around everything like a familiar blanket.  It’s warm and comforting.  It inspires me to take gentle steps, to move more deliberately, to be nicer and more at peace with everyone, including myself.  A great day is when the calm of the morning influences the entire day.

Everyone still sleeps in the house when I get up.  I love the idea of peaceful snoozers just a floor above.  I love that we are all together here in the silence.  My coffee mug and I keep watch while they snore. 



The occasional car on the highway – dark-early commuters getting a head start on the traffic – interrupts the hum of my computer, the brewing of the coffee, the fan of the heater blowing on chilly mornings like today.  My husband, an early commuter like the few on the road outside, wakes and leaves so quickly that his noises are soon forgotten, absorbed into the quiet.

It only lasts a short time.

The sun lightens the sky as the noises outside get louder, more frequent.  The noises inside do, too.  I hear the bathroom door close, the water of the shower.  Soon there will be footsteps, then voices. The buzz of the refrigerator will again be background noise instead of the featured solo.

Voices talking to me.  Voices vying for my attention, rising up against each other.  My voice will join theirs.

The morning quiet is replaced by chatter about schedules, the rustle of breakfast, the preparing of book bags and lunchboxes.

The day is here.

*******

This post inspired by:

Mama Kat's Writing Workshop

Prompt #5: Listen.  Write about what you hear, right now.
Posted by Andrea Mowery at 7:16 AM
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31 comments:

  1. I think we may have written exactly the same post today. We may be twins separated at birth or something. Once again, beautiful post.

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    1. Yes! I read yours, too. At least we know that when we're up at 5 am, someone else is enjoying the quiet. ::fist bump:: :)

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  2. I seriously dislike waking up and would sleep in any time I get the chance. However, today happened to be a day that the baby acted goofy and went back to sleep at the time that I should have been waking up - thus, I was up and in a quiet space for a while. Long story short, I get this. There is definitely something very peaceful about the before-everyone-else wakes time (and even the streets are quiet!).

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    1. When my kids were small and up at 5 am, I hated it, too. As they began to sleep in, I woke earlier, and the peace of the morning eventually won me over.

      But I can still get behind sleeping in on the weekends and on vacation, it's a must.

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  3. Love this! My husband and I get up at the same time - an hour before the kids do - but we do our own "thing" (him: coffee - me:Facebook (sigh)).
    I love this hour in the early morning when the house is so quiet!

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    1. Thanks Kerstin! It's my sanity some days. :)

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  4. Oh, just lovely.
    I love mornings like that, when quiet starts the day slowly. Lately I have been staying up so late that everyone is up with me and there is no quiet to be found until late into the night. It is a circle.

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    1. Thank you Kim!!

      I used to stay up late to get my quiet. But mornings came so early. Now I get up at an hour that no one else would consider. I like it better this way - easing into each day.

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  5. lovely imagery!! before my last slump of depression began, i was writing morning pages….i got up at 5 am every day, alone, and wrote…. this reminds me of that. xo

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    1. Thank you Erin! This is what I do most mornings... I journal or write. Or sometimes just check Facebook. I love the term morning pages.

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  6. I've been an early morning riser since the beginning of this year (prior to that, I was a sleep-in-as-much-as-possibl-er), and it really is a glorious time. My whole day is off if I don't get that quiet time to myself in the morning.

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    1. I've been getting up early for a while now, but this school year I decided to get up even earlier. I love it and I totally get what you mean about the whole day being off if I don't get that me time right away in the morning.

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  7. I can only write when it's quiet, which is my son's nap time. I tried waking up early, but that little stinker wakes up too. Nice post!

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    1. My kids used to have super-powered hearing when they were little, too. I could never get time to myself in the morning. Nap times were a little slice of heaven back then. Soon you'll get that quiet time. :)

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  8. I love early morning silence. I don't get to hear it often, but I love it.

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    1. I can't figure out which is worse: not often hearing the silence, or the fact that it is so fleeting no matter how long it lasts.

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  9. Hmm.. I am not sure how you did it, but you made my most hated time of day sound lovely. ::shakes fist::

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    1. I am on a mission to bring peace and love to the world, even at 5 am. :)

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  10. This is one of the reasons I stay up later than everyone else. I love the quiet and knowing that they are all lovingly tucked into their beds.

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    1. I used to stay up, too. But then I realized that everyone else was up with me, and it didn't work anymore. Five a.m. is where it's at in this house. :)

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  11. Before I had my second son, I used to wake up before everyone else so I can get some quiet before the day's noises permeate my world. Now, I just stay up way too late to do the same. :)

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    1. Yep, I get that - I used to stay up later, too. But I am a far better morning person than night owl.

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  12. I always love the quiet time which I rarely have now because it's get up and go lately. PS: That mug? Love it!

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  13. Nice. Lovely writing.

    Have to say I love my quiet time at night. I've always been a night owl and no matter how I've tried or what motivation I might find, there is nothing about early morning that I enjoy but the warmth of my bed. I sometimes wish I liked morning...many people seem to. Since the Hub is also a night owl, it does not look likely that this will change any time soon.

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    1. Thanks so much, Lisa. There is a definite distinction between night owls and morning people. I cannot stay up late and function well. I enjoy staying up late if I'm enjoying myself, but if there is work to be done, I'm much better off being an early bird.

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  14. You captured it so well! I love this time too!

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    1. Thank you! It seems so many of us love the mornings...I'll raise my coffee cup to you at 5 am too!

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