Mornings

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” — Buddha

I love the mornings. I remember a time – when I lived on the South Side of Milwaukee, where summers are short, and sweet – when I would rise early, dress quickly, and go for a morning run in the neighborhood. When I returned home there was just enough time to shower and dress, eat breakfast quickly, and go to work.

These mornings – in the years since COVID hit us like a storm in early 2020 – I have risen early and started the day with Jeff in the living room before we set off for a daily loop in St. Mary’s Cemetery, just in the next block.

Over the past few months, I’ve changed my morning pattern again. I still arise at 6 AM – make myself a cup of coffee, just the way I like it – and sit in the living room on the couch, facing the window. We have a wonderful front window, which looks over our small front yard, the street, with a view of San Francisco just beyond the redwood tree across the way. Before my latest habit, I would stop in my office to pick up my iPad and spend the early minutes of the day – after reading the headlines in the New York Times and doing the crossword puzzle – checking out my social media, scrolling and scrolling.

But I’ve changed my morning pattern again. Now, I still rise early, make myself a cup of coffee with milk, and I sit, cozy, on the afghan thrown over our red couch, looking out the front window into the trees. I watch the light as it slowly – and then quickly – lights up the Bay and our street. Sometimes, Jeff and I chat about the day, or about the happenings of the day before. Today Jeff – who is always out of bed before I wake up – brought me up to date on the outcomes of the mid-term elections we’d been eagerly waiting for.

I love the mornings. I’ve never counted myself a good sleeper – Jeff, like my father, can sleep easily and quickly, and is always asleep before me – and so getting up and facing the new day makes me happy.

The sky over Oakland, photo by Mary Elyn Bahlert, 11/2/2026