Morning.

I remember in college when having an 8am class felt like the end of the world... it was so EARLY. I'd mosey in at 7:50 (I hate being late), coffee in hand, still yawning.

Fast forward a couple years. These days I get up at 5am every day so I can catch a bus at 6:15 and be working by 7am.

Early has been re-defined.

Honestly, now that I've been in this routine for almost 6 months, waking up at 5am seems normal. The most inconvenient part is that most of the rest of the world (aka our friend group) doesn't have to wake up at that time....and subsequently doesn't go to bed at 9pm.

Craig, who consistently reminds me that waking up at 5am is not normal, and who definitely does not have to be up at that time, wakes up with me anyway. Sometimes that's when my feet hit the floor at 5:06 (or 5:09, or 5:12), sometimes that's handing me coffee 30 minutes later when I'm zipping up my boots.

This is a blessing to me for several reasons.

1. It's hard to get out of bed when you have a snuggly husband who is much warmer than the chilly hallway to the bathroom. If he's getting up too, this process is much easier.
2. I can turn the lights on.
3. We always sit down and have breakfast at the table together, giving us the opportunity to connect (albeit groggily) before we leave for long workdays.
4. We (usually) have time to get in the word in the morning.
5. We get tired at the same time...aka like 7pm. (We're old.)

Here's to being early birds together.
And here's to coffee.

(Favorite feature of our coffee maker? The auto-on, set for 5:07am every day.)