Catching Idle Butterflies

Still morning

Working for the Forest Service in Colorado for two summers during college, I came close to being pine tree food many times (every morning, to be exact). My body would never have been found. Me and the other surveyors, both full time employees and other students like me, working high up in the mountains with only narrow mining roads, and much walking up high in the mountains where finding three feet of snow in July is common, few people would ever see.

So what did I do to tempt normally kind and generous people to commit murder? Simple. I’m a morning person, and they were not. They hated me for coming into the office at 7:00am all perky and wishing them all a fabulous morning. I could see the murder in their eyes as soon as I walked in the door with a smile.

I’ve always loved mornings. Things happen, or more accurately, don’t happen at 5:00am. With such quiet around me, I notice things I wouldn’t have with other cars streaming by, headlights glaring and engine noise distracting me from my all-important musings.

As I walked out of the house to go to the gym at 5:15am this morning, I stopped at my car door before unlocking it, glanced around and listened. About a half an inch of snow had fallen during the night, giving the predawn dark a silvery glow. Low lying clouds shone a dark yellow as they reflected the city lights.

Nothing stirred, not even the slightest breeze tickled my face. The temperature was just warm enough to be comfortable, yet not so warm the snow was already getting soft and slushy. It crunched with my every step.

Driving down the highway, I took my time, both to and from the gym, taking pleasure in my solitude. I had to laugh at one point remembering something partyof5dj said in his blog about living and driving at DSL speed. I thought, “Hey, I’m driving at dial-up speed!” much to the frustration of other drivers who didn’t want to appreciate and make last the quiet morning like I did.

But hey, that’s what the fast lane is for, so there!