The Nine O'Clock Hour

I can never decide whether or not I'm an early bird or a night owl. However, there is no better feeling than waking up early enough to feel as if you can seize the day. That is why the nine o'clock hour is one of my simple pleasures.

During this past quarter at school, I dubbed nine a.m. to be the perfect time to wake up. You could still stay up and watch Sex and the City re-runs on cable and feel completely refreshed. Plus it's a time where the world has already woken from their night-time reveries to make their ways in the world.

As a true simple pleasure, 9am always evokes a number of strange and pleasant memories. For instance, when I was a kid, during the summer I would always wake a 9am and I would throw on a pair of shorts and run to go play outside. We lived at this cute little house on the Licking River and I had this fun make-shift swing made from a big rope and a piece of wood. I could swing on that piece of wood for hours and hours, looking out onto the river and daydreaming.

The nine o'clock hour also reminds me of the time that my mom and I were driving to Florida. We had stopped at hotel on the border of Georgia and Florida, some run-down joint where they sold peaches and pecans next door. We woke up not too late and not too early and continued our journey into the sunshine state (I do believe we were visiting colleges). The sun sparkled of the cars as we drove down the interstate and through Jacksonville. I had my first mp3 player blasting some Beatles and I could feel the sun's warmth coming through the windshield.

This morning I welcomed my "early" rising, made myself a cup of coffee and sat down with a book, knowing that I was ready to take on today's adventure.