Morning

Many years ago I quit smoking.  My motto was “I can do anything for a day”.  I also borrowed “One day at a time”.  Every day is a new day.  All the sins of yesterday?  Gone.  All the excesses?  Gone.

Anything is possible in the new morning freshness.  I can start a diet today.  I can learn the guitar today.  I can clean house today.  (It can happen.)

When my kids were little, I bought season tickets to Frontier City, a local amusement park. We went several days a week.  First thing in the morning we lined up at the gate to be among the first in the park.  We would ride all morning.  We hopped on the Silver Bullet roller coaster over and over.  Short lines. For some reason most people don’t go until later in the afternoon. By the time the masses began arriving, the sun was beating down on us and we were tired.  It was time to  go.

One of my favorite summer memories is with my youngest son when he was around 15.  He and his friend wanted to enter a fishing tournament at Lake Thunderbird.  It fell to me to take them.  The friend ended up unable to go.  So it was just the two of us.  We didn’t win, but we were hooked.  We got up well before sunrise to hit the lake.  As the sun rose, mist steaming over the water, we angled ourselves for a morning of fishing.  Then he learned to drive and didn’t need me any longer.

When I quit smoking, I started walking.  I dragged my daughter along with me for the ride.  Early in the mornings we hit the pavement.  Soon we were adding some run segments:  run a block and walk a block.  Pretty we connected all the dots and were running all over the place.  We entered races and even won one.  We still do races together.  Occasionally she comes over early on Sunday mornings and we run.  She’s faster than me now.

I went to the grocery store  the other day around 8 am.  Checkers were in abundance with hardly any shoppers. Everywhere I turned a worker asked “Are you finding everything alright?”  or greeted me with a simple “Good morning”.  “Have a good day” followed me out the door.  I beamed back, “You too!”  I will never do evening shopping again.

For those that like to partake, sex is better in the mornings.  I’m not worn down by the day’s drudgery yet.  Work, kids, cooking, taking care of my mom are still in the future.  Even better is a little bedroom action after a morning workout.