"A Dancer's Morning"

For the record, I am not a morning person. Never have been, and it looks like I may never be. Except, when I started my new job, I also started having to wake up at 7(!) in the morning on MWF. That's all well enough, except that TR, I have dance classes that don't start till 10:00. If this were an earlier period of my life, I would absolutely sleep until the last possible minute, roll out of bed, throw on the leotard, grab a portable breakfast and head out the door. But, at this mature new phase of my life, this is no longer the case. I don't want to drastically mess with my sleeping schedule by getting up early some days and sleeping in others. So, I get up on my class days at (almost) the same time as I usually get up for work (hey, I'm new at this).

As for what ensues, well, I have come to find it quite lovely. I roll out of bed, make a civilized sort of breakfast (the kind you eat sitting down, with some kind of table in front of you), tie up some lose ends, make phone calls to other early risers, or maybe just cruise around the internet for a while, and then, when it's time, I get on my dance gear and go. Today, because of the whole Lent thing, I decided not to even look at the computer and just ate my breakfast, concentrating on the deliciousness of the food I was eating and listened to the birds sing. Who am I?

Oh, I know. I'm her:



I don't even want to tell you how much of an infatuation I've always secretly had with this commercial. I think when it started airing, I was just starting to figure out how much I loved dance, and to me this looked like the most idyllic life ever conceived of. Waking up. Sipping Folgers coffee (which just goes to show you how advertising messes with your head because I think Folgers is undrinkable and even good coffee makes me nauseous when I drink it before going to jump around for four hours). The morning light streams in the window. A deep "Welcome Life!" stretch, a few dance steps in the kitchen and then off to a fulfilling day at the studio. Perfection.

I've got to say it...dance class mornings for me are a little like that (until the whole arrive at the studio and execute all steps perfectly with a triumphant smile on your face thing. That, not so much.). I'm not joking, did you hear me before? I was sipping a chai latte and listening to the birds sing! Birds! All I'm saying is, how often do we get to live out something that even resembles a childhood fantasy? To me, this is awesome.