... mornings

Many people enjoy the sunset. So do I. The beautiful colors that the sun gives us before it drops below the horizon is truly breathtaking, and a testament to Jehovah's wisdom. Many may not realize that Jehovah created it for us to enjoy. He didn't have to. So, there's the sunset camp...

For me, it's the opposite. I really enjoy sunrise. It may not be as vivid as a sunset, but it's just as beautiful. As it's my custom to awake before dawn, I enjoy a cup of coffee and reflect on the coming day. As the window brightens with pre-dawn light, I stand there, looking out.

The window is open, the breeze is cool. What makes up for the visual beauty of the sunset, is the smell. The scent of dew, the flowers and the trees giving off their strongest fragrance of the day.

I breate it in, smelling the earth awakening from a night's slumber. Everything is quiet, stll asleep. Sometimes I hear birds with their morning song.

For a while, we had birds nesting in the parking area under our building. Their cries were loud, frog's cries, a croaking jibber jabber between them. After a long time, they were gone. Maybe migrated, maybe shooed away by the maintenance people.

From the rear window of our tiny, tiny apartment stand two huge trees. One is probably 100 feet tall, the other stands guard in the empty field behind our complex. How it stays green in the dead grass is amazing.

As I breate this air in, other smells join in. Someone is cooking bacon. Another is drying clothes, the vent being under our window. That smell can be strong, if they use a scented dryer sheet. yet another is smoking. In this state, marijuana is legal, so that scent wafts through the air, sometimes faint, sometimes strong. Another smell attacks from the left: it smells like burnt rubber. Maybe it's a skunk, squirting something it didn't like. The morning smells are obscured now, and won't reappear until tomorrow, so I'm glad I got to enjoy it before it drifts away.

As I stand at the window, the dog jumps up and down, because she wants to take a look at what I'm seeing. So, I pick her up. She's in my arms, nose twitching, her ears swiveling like satellite dishes. Her eyes flit here and there and then she chuffs at something I can't see or hear; a far off dog barks and she responds with ayip and a growl of her own. As the last smell of dew fades, I thank Jehovah for a new day.