Snapshot of My House at Four Thirty on a Wednesday Morning

The dog, suddenly alight with some devilish notion, runs up and down the stairs a couple of times, clackety clack on the hard wood.  It is pitch dark outside, an hour before the alarm should go off, but wakefulness wins out over sleep.  (The dog, on the other hand, having seen to his mysterious but urgent night-time business, is now curled up on the still-warm master bed, snoring gently.)

The room is lit by the glow of the laptop screen, cursor blinking at a stopping point in a long and getting-to-eloquent brief.  On the family room mantle, top-heavy daffodils hang low from their pot, their cheery yellow tips kissing the broad wooden beam.  Purple lilies in a purple pot stand straight up at attention.  Suspended below them is a string of shamrock lights, to appease the Irish husband who would make St. Patrick’s Day a weeklong fete if he could.  Every holiday deserves a set of twinkle lights, so charming in these early morning hours when the sun is yet unrisen.  Valentines Day balloons still bob a few inches from the banister, tied off there for a month now, left because they still delight the children.  Birds call madly outside  – the window by the chair is open, though it’s somewhat chilly.

A little stuffed bunny rabbit, dressed in a calico suit, lies face down under the coffee table – an Easter decoration fetched from its place on the entry-way table, loved fiercely and protectively for a minute or two by one of the little boys who lives here.  They cannot keep their grubby little paws off the Easter decorations.  Next to the bunny is an orange plastic shovel, one Lightning McQueen sneaker (size 6), and a blue wooden toy wrench – the ever-present detritus of the preschooler set.  A blue mug of coffee cools from its perch on a coaster nearby.  On the floor beneath the stone fireplace is a little drift of ash and dust, leftover from a recent fire.  With a gentle rumbling sound, the heat kicks in.  Time to shut the window.  It is not quite the season for early morning open windows yet, but getting there.

The sun comes up.  The boys will be up soon.