Every day begins the night before.
On Sunday night, after a relaxing and lazy day, I ate a big bowl of homemade chicken soup, I watched a little TV, I wrote a few email, I had a nice conversation on the phone with someone dear, I read a chapter in my novel and fell asleep to the sound of rain falling on the roof and gurgling in the downspout.
I fell asleep early.
At about 5:00 AM I woke to a scent. It took me a moment to figure out what it was as I lay there in the darkness. I could hear someone moving through the apartment. I could hear music playing softly. I glanced at the clock and noticed the hour. I recognized the scent - it was Axe body spray.
My first thought was a cranky one. I thought about getting up and asking my nephew what the heck he was doing up at 5:00 AM spraying Axe when it was a Monday morning. My assumption was that he had stayed up all night and now, rudely, woken me in the morning.
Then my brain slowly clicked in. My nephew works all over the clock, based on need, and I remembered he had told me he was going into work at 5:30 AM Monday morning. I realized that he was just getting up to go to work, and there I was willing to get up and be cranky.
But, I also discovered that I was pretty much wide awake because I had fallen asleep early the night before. So I rolled out of bed and told him about my morning thoughts. He laughed and promised to go easy on the Axe!
My apartment has a square lay out. The living room, dining room and kitched are in the front half and the two bedrooms are in the back half, with the bathroom between the bedrooms. there is a small corridor that leads from the living room to the bathroom and bedrooms and on one side of that corridor is the furnace and on the otherside a coat closet.
The intake vent for the furnace is near the floor. It is an efficient little place - but the furnace intake catches scents and pushes them up and through the furnace into the bedroom. With the cold weather right now, my nephew blasted himself with his Axe and the aerosol fell to the floor and was sucked into the vents!
I had an early morning meeting today, so I rolled out, drank some coffee and got ready to head into the office, then I dropped my nephew off at his work place on the way in. He is fortunate in that he works just a little over a mile from the apartment so it is either a five minute bus ride or a thirty minute walk.
After I dropped him off I drove into work, stopping at the coffee shop on the way in. It was a cold morning, raining intermittently after a night of fairly heavy rain and the city streets were black and glistening in the amber glow of the mercury vapor street lights. Because of the early hour traffic was very light so the drive in was beautiful and pleasant.
I was listening to Warren Zevon on the radio and just enjoyed the drive in immensely. Since I came in early I got a good start on my email and voice-mail queues before beginning the morning cycle of meetings. One of the advantages of starting the day early is that it will end early - by the time I go to lunch at noon it will be three quarters over. So, let me return to the working world with one of the Warren Zevon songs on "Mutineer".
"Piano Fighter" by Warren Zevon, 1993, Zevon Music, BMI
Mom and Papa bought a Chickering
Every day I'd sit and play that thing
I practiced hard;
it was more than a whim
I played with grim determination, Jim
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
I worked in sessions and I played in bands
A thousand casuals and one-night stands
Here on Thursday, gone on Friday
Heading down the Dixie highway
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Maybe I'll go to Reno
Nobody knows my name
I'll play Claire de Lune in a quiet saloon
Steady work for a change
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Got in trouble down in New Orleans
I must admit that I was strung out, painted in the corner of a limousine
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a thin ice walker, I'm a freelance writer
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
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