Like An Extra Slice Of Life

The Early Morning Hours Changed The Way I View The World

It’s 5.30am and my feet hit the floor a millisecond after my dog’s. We’re up.

He dances around the living room and brings me his stuffed caterpillar, while I try to remember where the hell I put his collar the night before and curse myself for the hundredth time for not having a consistent place to put it.

I flick the kettle on as I pass by on the third loop around the small apartment we share and eventually find the collar and slip it on.

I pull on my clothes and my shoes and open the front door. I never look out of the window before heading out, I want to experience the start of this new day without a preview.

Whatever the time of year and whatever the weather, the feeling I get as I step down off our step and out into the fresh mountain air never gets old.

At the bottom of our path, Leo my faithful four-legged friend, guides me left or right as we meander through the deserted streets of our neighbourhood. In some houses there’s a light on, but most people will likely sleep at least another hour.

I stand and look out over the valley and Leo, somehow sensing that I need to do this, stands patiently beside me as I take a deep breath, marvelling at the mist hugging the valley floor, the beauty of the glacier right ahead of me and the sky that holds all the promise of a beautiful day.

Every single morning there is a version of this very same scene and I never fail to want to rush along my street, knocking on doors and pulling my neighbours outside to witness this unique spectacle.

But I don’t, they already think I’m a little crazy.

At the bottom of the road a single car passes by and we turn and head along the path towards the forest.

I can hear the birds now and I smile as I pick up the unmistakable song of the Great Tit and recall how, some years earlier, I hid in a bush to record its song so that a friend could identify it for me.

We walk on across the grass, our feet leaving a trail in the early morning dew and at the edge of the forest a young deer stands and watches us for a moment before darting back to safety.

As we pass a fence I see dewdrops glistening like diamonds on a spider’s web and the trail that has been left by a snail as it journeyed along the top rung. I wonder where it started and where it is now.

All these details from the incredible world of nature are easy to miss once the sun is up, once the human world comes to life and once the day begins in earnest.

There are parts of me, too, that are easy to miss when the day gets started. Once I’ve switched on my phone and my iPad, once I’ve begun to think, and often to fret, about what work will come my way today, I tend to lose this easy going, relaxed and wondering part of myself that only seems to be free and unfettered at the time the world still sleeps.

Sometimes we walk as far as the bakery to pick up a couple of rolls for breakfast and the main street through our small ski resort village is deserted save for a few early morning dog walkers we greet with a nod or a wave, and people like me collecting their breakfast.

We exchange a special kind of smile, the smile of a small group whose members know and love this time of day and are here through choice.

As we meander home, the sky takes on a different tone, more cars appear and by the time I’ve reached my front door, an hour after I left it, there are more lights on and a few people leaving for work.

We step back inside and I open my blinds so that I may watch the sun come over the mountain as I prepare our breakfast.

There are 24 hours in a day, but how many of them do I use properly? I don’t mean to work or surf the internet, but to try to be the person I am at this time of day when the world is full of wonder, my thoughts are still and anything seems possible.

These first two hours are the best of every day and my goal now is to be the person I am during this time for longer. I will find a way, but until I do, I am grateful for the chance to experience what feels like an extra slice of life.

Every. Single. Day.

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