20 Pounds of Sunrise

Before sunrise this morning, I sat inside my darkened house petting my 20 pounds of housecat.  Early in the morning is the only sure time he allows for such lavish affection.  He especially enjoys when I gently knead at is fancy perfume-bottle shaped skull.

Even with the windows of my house flung wide open, the air inside remained perfectly still.  Nothing outside stirred.

I reflected on my life.

I have always been surrounded by profoundly blue mountains, which is important.  I had a grandfather with a crooked arm but a kind heart.  I once owned a car for less than eight hours before totaling it in a head-on collision.  Twice in my life I have nibbled sweets that tasted exactly the way a rose smells.  I kissed the pretty girls.  I once drove my young daughter thirty miles just to show her an osprey nest.  I drove away slowly from my first life, but came back in a hurry.

At sunrise, I followed my cat outside.

For the first hour we worship the sun.

--Mitchell Hegman