Just Five Miles

642 am.  Not being a morning person or so I thought, I was not prepared for the beauty of the morning sky.  At a glance it looks much like the expansive brilliance of the night sky I said good night to a few hours ago, but it’s different.  There is a calm and stillness to it.  Like it’s settled in to it’s rhythm and is now ready to say good bye to the world.  It’s got softer edges.  Most of us have a routine I suppose and I have settled into mine.   It’s simple really but has come to be a very important piece of my life.  My simplified existence as it were. It is the crisp cool air wrapping around me as I sit in 1299 and drink my hot coffee.  I know the desert will cool down soon and make this rendezvous with the sunrise a little more challenging soon but for now it’s crisp and cool and perfect.  It’s been years, if ever that I have allowed myself the time to watch the night give way to the dawn.   The clutter of life with it’s baggage of worry, tension, fear, and schedule always seemed to muddy up the scene.  With most of that behind me, at least for the moment, this hopeful voyeur will no longer allow the dance of light and dark to go without an audience.  

Having successfully engineered the sunrise, the next duty has turned out to be my favorite part of the day.  Each morning I am tasked with making a five mile drive to make sure things are working.  It’s only five miles there and back.  Nothing fancy, no lights and sirens, no speeding, no excitement.  Just a short trip in the morning light.  It’s familiar to me now.  Like a walk around the lake out in front of the old homestead in Mesquite.  The sun is fighting to get high enough to spread it’s light over the western landscape.  The scattered buildings of this small place are waking up to start the day.  Two and half miles out and it’s time to turn around.  I am at the edge of civilization. a tenth of a mile more and the desert will engulf me.   I have come to expect the same people along my route and I believe they have come to expect me.  It’s the casual but important raising of your hand slightly from the steering wheel as you meet them on the road.  Not all the way, just a few fingers.  Being brought up as an Urbano driver, I rarely see the speed limit on the dashboard without the hint of radar around.  Now, I find myself moving along at a crawl on my way home.  Not because I fear the law, but because I really don’t want my journey to end.  It’s just five miles.