From The Back Porch

There is nothing more majestic that watching sunrise...  and as we all can well imagine, sunrise is different from a variety of locations all over the world.  Watching the sunrise is an old pagan tradition, I have read, but be that as it may, it is still fascinating to watch, especially from my back porch.

As the valley lights up this morning, the clouds hide the magnificent ball of sun from being seen, but watching the light unfold is a miracle in and of itself.

Up early were you?

As a matter of fact I was...

Why?

Simply put, I could not sleep any longer...

This is one of the few mornings that the cats (of which we have 3) were not sitting at the door, whinning for me to get up and give them their morning treat.

It's a habit that we started years ago and repeat daily.

We humans have routines as well...  that were started long ago by someone who conditioned us like our parents and possibly later by an influential grade school teacher.

For me, it was my parents who taught me that the first thing that I should do before leaving the bedroom for breakfast was to make my bed...  they assured me that I did not have to do this if I needed to use the bathroom first.

Next, was the routine of breakfast as my father considered that to be the most important meal of the day, with lunch being second and dinner was important as well just not as much.

Meals were always a time for the family to talk and share whatever it was that we wanted to share with each other and sometimes the sharing got personal and had obviously violated privacy...  and, another routine was established that was simply don't share private stuff.

Over 70 years later, I still eat that most important meal of the day...  breakfast...  but, I typically don't even think about eating it until late morning...  and, when I say late, it is usually almost noon.  Around 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm, I eat small meals maybe just pimento cheese on a toasted English Muffin or a couple of apples or a bowl of soup.  As we grow older we don't need much of a routine to sustain our lives.

Reflections are a powerful source of memories and the older we become the more reflections we have and the more memories we remember...  and, it is in those moments of reflection that we finally understand who we are and what we have become.