The Fortunate Early Bird Syndrome

The Fortunate Early Bird Syndrome: (Audio)

To snap the perfect photo, you have to be prepared to attend to your schedule and timing. To get the Milky Way, well, you may have to stay up later than many enjoy. To get that beautiful sunrise as shown in the photo, you may have to get up extra early to get to just the right spot. (Kiro TV tweeted this photo out this morning!)

It all depends on what you’re after, and what you’re willing to sacrifice to get the reward.

I remember fellow students “cramming all night” for a final exam, to which I can say I never stayed up all night studying for the big test. Maybe my grades showed it, but my short term memory was pretty good to simply skim the material and hope my brain would retain the answers.

My skimming skills were lightning fast! Speed read. Quick recital. Mutter it under my breath as I walk into the classroom. Quick. Quick. Pass out the test!

For most of my life, I’ve been an early riser. It never made sense to hang out in bed when there was so much to enjoy around me.

In the early 60’s, we lived at Champion Paper Company employee’s park. 140 acres of parkland on the frontage of Clear Lake, just a couple of minutes away from NASA, or, The Johnson Space Center as it is more commonly known today. If we were smartly ready, then we could ride with dad as he made his rounds of the park and ensured everything was ready. It was even his job to prepare the swimming pool for the 10 am opening. If there was even a spare moment of time, then we would swim, like the fish we were, while he was prepping. Our job was diving for the debris from the overnight wind or rainstorm that passed through.

That water was ALWAYS cold. That’s probably why I’ve adapted to cold so well today… Just jump in!

Dive to the bottom. Like a submarine. Dive! Dive! Kooga! Get that leaf. Swim as fast as possible. Deposit the debris on the side of the pool. Dive again!

With my little red knife, I would wrestle alligators and crocodiles like Tarzan!

It’s an important part of my memory. I still own that knife! Thanks to mom collecting all my important artifacts from what I once left behind!

Getting up early gets you the opportunity to swim like a fish!

Even though I’ve always been that morning person, it’s not always a wish to be the first “up and at ’em”! As far back as Aristotle, we learn that the philosophical view of early rising portended better results throughout the day.

This became a commonsensical proverb used by many, especially names we know, like Matthew Henry and Benjamin Franklin. It was Franklin who also quoted from a famous German Proverb, “Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund” – in English, please. “The early morning has gold in its mouth.”

Here’s a side thought about that bird that gets the worm only because it woke up early…shouldn’t the worm have stayed in bed a little longer???

So. Leave me alone when I chat about early rising. There’s nothing better on my plate than enjoying the brisk overnight coolness and the walk in the yard as the sun rises and the mist grows. Listen to the waking chattering birds. The dogs anxious for a run. And now the chickens are clucking for their door to be opened so they can stretch their legs…so far, no rooster in the bunch!