It’s 5:18 am on a Saturday morning.

After a night of nausea and nonsense, the sky is brightening. Only by a bit, but my soul is invigorated. I am relieved. Night was heavy and long. I had planned a few days ago to get up unnaturally early to take Murphy to one of her favourite dog parks. I’m about to do that. She’s sleeping quietly on the couch right now. She’s walking in her sleep again because I see her paws twitch, first one then the other. It’s funny to watch and it makes me happy.

I’m going to go to the park in half an hour or so. I’ll have a coffee first. Dawn in a wide open park. The smell of freshly cut grass. Dew on my toes through the sandals. A wide open sky.

No more of this heavy night, this claustrophobia, this filled up ashtray.

I’ll pack my bag. I’ll take some dog cookies. We’re out of dog cookies. Sad. I’ll take some little melba canap駸. She likes them better anyway. I’ll take some water for her. She gets very thirsty from all the walking and running. And of course, I’ll take my camera.

The sky is brighter now. Only four minutes later. I am refreshed.

It’s 8:30 exactly. I was almost deterred. It was raining. Or rather it had just stopped raining at 5:18 which I hadn’t noticed because it was dark. And I didn’t want my first foray farther from home to be rainy. I like the rain. But I like the rain from the inside. But I was too energized and too eager to go and I didn’t let the rain, or the threat of rain, after all, keep me inside.

I walked beyond my normal periphery. Murphy looked at me strangely as if I should be unsure of myself. But she remembered where we were going and she got very excited and the closer we got the more she pulled me. It was fun walking down city streets so early in the morning. No cars. Few pedestrians. Some eager early morning joggers.

The sun got out from behind the cloud cover as soon as I got to the park. It was glorious. In mid-June, trees put out a certain smell that I haven’t smelled yet this year. It’s a beautiful, ripening smell. I love the long shadows of early morning. There were a handful of other dogs and Murphy had a good time playing. The color of the sky was beautiful. The sun rising over the clouds was beautiful. The smell of the trees and the dewy grass was beautiful. And although it was quite muddy, we walked back along the ravine. It was a charming morning and I am more myself than I have been. A restful sleep now. I will draw the curtains and turn the fan on and stretch out luxurious on my bed and sleep soundly.

SS