Wake-Up

I am joining Ann Dee Ellis and other writers in using a prompt                        to record  memoir moments. If you don't write your story, who will?

When my Stake President, local church leader, asked me to teach Early Morning Seminary my sleeping until dawn ended. No longer would the natural light push me out of bed in the morning. My husband's alarm would become my wake-up call, as well as his. At first the alarm would shock me and leave me gripping the side of the bed in peril. My best dreams happen at 4:00am and always I would struggle to leave the story in my head and recognize the reality that I had six teenagers waiting for me at church in a very short while. 

As the years passed by my early rising became normal. I learned to navigate my house in the dark, stomach food by 5:00, and drive the dark streets of my town. My seminary teaching ended four years ago and lasted eight years. I am now an early morning person, by nature. My favorite time is 4:00am in May and June. The dawn chorus of birds makes me so, so happy. On weekends I allow myself to sleep longer, but I have this deeply ingrained habit. There is much to gain in an early life. Prayer and meditation is soothing and nurturing at that time of day. The dark draws me in and the silence invites me to listen more attentively. I have come far enough that the alarm doesn't need to be set. Conversely, an early bedtime is mandatory.