Sunrise

As I sit here in the darkness, my living room illuminated by the harsh glow from my laptop, I can see through the crack where my blinds sit ever-so-slightly away from the window jam.

Through this crack i see the beginnings of dawn.

A bird twirls.

Another one joins in.

And I think: it's 5 o'clock in the morning, the sun will be rising soon.

I try to keep my eyes open, another 20 minutes, I tell myself, and then this task I'm monitoring will be finished. I type to keep myself awake, and to take my focus off the lack of sleep that I got over night. 1 hour? 2? I decide I was able to get two 1 hour long naps during the course of the evening.

I want my co-workers to know my pain. An email send at an unearthly hour usually does the trick. But, as the day breaks, and the minutes tick on unrelentingly, the hour is becoming increasingly more earthly, and, soon, it will just appear that I arose early. This will not do.

Thankfully, emails sent throughout the night will set stage for my abnormal tardiness at today's morning meetings. Am I sleeping in? If permitted by the sun, birds, and my upstairs neighbor, most assuredly.