Early to rise

With all due respect to Benjamin Franklin,  I have to say rising early for the past forty years has not been due to my body-clock eager to start the day.  It was a habit that I developed before age 18 as I had responsibilities ( I worked before school at a ranch which required me to start there at 5 AM).    I am healthier now due to good eating habits,  wealthier due to a skill that is specialized and in demand -but more likely that I am much less given to the wild living of youth – and possibly wiser because I read a lot  – starting with scripture.  Work stimulates a lot of brain activity because something I build and test at work rarely just functions as designed. And I need to determine why – or correct it.  Participating in discussions with friends, peers, educators, and fellow bloggers across the world stimulates curiosity.

To say that this writer’s mind is a cauldron of seething ideas is not entirely accurate at 5 AM on a Saturday.  By sitting on an idea till it hatches, more fully formed, requires patience, time to actually write, a critical editing process, a lot of coffee,  and   Voila!

And then the dogs realize I am up.  Ideas sometimes come during a dog walk, but more often I am focused on them not peeing on mailboxes, a neighbor’s roses or my not stumbling.