Lesson 8) Good morning, Early Bird!

Well, we might not want the worm, but today it was rather good to get up early. This was mostly because if I hadn't, I would have missed my philosophy recitation and that would've lost me a quiz grade...

But that's beside the point.

My point is that the morning is beautiful. By observing this, we can actually wake up. This morning I was huddled into my down jacket, crossing the drill field with the wind blowing, and solid frost over the whole ground, leaving evidence of the few students that had gotten there before me. I was upset that I had to be up that early, so I had stuck my earbuds in and pretended I was somewhere warmer ("Give me TWO margaritas, I need one for each hand...") but then I heard this sound and took my buds out to find out what was interrupting me. Was someone calling my name?

Nope- it was the bell tower calling out an old church hymn that I couldn't quite remember the name of. I looked around and it seemed that the whole campus stood still for just a second. Several other students had done the same, slowing down for just a moment to hear which tune our bells were playing today. Then the wind blew again and we all put our heads back down into our scarves and continued on our way. 

I know this doesn't sound like a lesson, but to me it is. Your grandparents are always going to tell you to stop and smell the roses. But, have you noticed how rare random roses are? I live on a campus, if there are roses anywhere then they were planted according to a designer's plan so that the alumni would be happy. Plus it's February, there isn't a rose in sight where I am. Allow me to propose that there are things out there that we need to stop to appreciate that aren't so obviously cliche'. The smell of the snow during dawn is probably my favorite scent on earth, beaten only by the beginning of a storm. It was such a short moment this morning, but it woke me up for the rest of my day and now that I'm sitting here studying the songs of the Chippewas for my literature quiz later today, I'm seeing a real life instance of their whole "everything is connected" theory.

Today is Friday, so Lord knows I'm going to have a pretty interesting lesson for you tomorrow, so this one gets to be serene.

Here's to your weekend plans, and stopping to smell the world around you, whether it be snow or roses!

Curl Girl, out!