Pat Bean's blog

The above photo was taken at Lake End Park in Morgan, La. The photo is a pale image of the original, but each time I look at it, my mind’s eye sees the intensity of the colors once again.

I’m a morning person, most often up before the sun peaks above the horizon. At the first upward flick of an eyelid, I’m ready and eager to bounce out of bed. It’s as if I can’t wait to discover what surprises the day will bring. It helps that I’m an optimistic, Pollyanna-ish kind of person.

This early morning exuberance has not helped me win friends over the years, especially among coworkers who only came to life just before quitting time. It might have helped if I hadn’t always been so verbosely cheerful, but the bratty kid in me was usually in charge.

These days, the only one I have to annoy with my early morning zest is my dog, Maggie. She and I have spent the last five years alone together traveling this great country of ours in a small RV. When I pop down from our over-the-cab bed, she snuggles deeper into the covers. It’s at least 9 a.m. before she’ll emerge and give me that look that says, I have to go for a walk – right now!

Before that happens, I’ve finished off a pot of coffee, which I’ve heavily laced with cream, answered e-mail and updated Facebook. If it’s been a good morning, I’ve written a couple of pages on my current writing project, and if it’s been an especially good morning, I’ve also watched the sun come up out my RV window.

There’s something about a sunrise that touches my soul. It’s as if all my heart’s desires are bound up in the pink, the purple, the orange layers spread out across the eastern sky. It’s Mother Nature’s way of saying the dark won’t last forever.

So wake up already and watch it with me.