PERFECT MORNING OFFICE SOLITUDE
Early morning darkness, peace, in my corner of this world — a recent perfect start; left home earlier than usual, arriving very early, so nice driving before sunrise glare …
My empty building solitude disturbed only by HVAC fans, intermittent gasps — slurping steamy coffee the only sound; I relished nobody coming in to disturb my early morning concentration.
Heavy trucks not yet up to speed lumbered by parallel to our building — their red running lights seen from my window seemed surreal like dots on a cheesy velvet painting; those little red lights in the darkness before pre-dawn gave way to a mostly empty sky, the horizon a mix of pink and gray haze — I had some Sate playing.
Just me, my coffee, my Sate, my morning ritual reading, affirmations, morning papers and the inevitable to-do list, the calendar — like I said, all alone. Solitary, but not entirely still. I try that now and then, first thing in the morning — to be still, to be quiet of mind and body simultaneously, but my mind doesn’t want to be still.
I paused, then some work for a few minutes, then resuming my silent sitting where I left off — by then, 7:45, the fan stopped, just me, an empty building and mesmerizing Sate, reading newspapers and working into the pile of files on my desk. Most of my ‘to-do’ files and lists get their daily look-at, a few quick emails to someone to move something forward toward the goal line or the trash bin; some days, it is too hard to tell which acorn of connection will grow, or which brief glimmer will fade to black.
