The Early Bird Gets the Worm

I had an unexpectedly early start today. Somehow my early morning brain registered the 7:00 alarm (that I usually ignore) as 8:00, forcing my poor body to drag itself out of bed and scramble to get ready. Everything was normal- the amount of time it took me to get dressed, fix myself lunch, put makeup on, say hello to the security guard downstairs. I was even proud of myself for getting to campus in under 10 minutes.

The time keeper wished me a good morning, a good luck on midterms, and a happy Spring Break. I've never seen him so chipper, yelling a three minute warning to students rushing to their 8AM classes. It still didn't register that I wasn't supposed to be there for another hour. I sped towards the library in my black wedge boots.

The twelfth floor of Bobst knew better, though, not wanting to let me in as I repeatedly tried the code to open the door. I even clocked in. Absolutely no awareness that it said "8:03", not 9:03. Then my boss Marian saw me. Whoops. So I dragged myself (again) back downstairs, baffled by what I had done to myself. "What an awful start to this already long day," my brain told my body, "go get some coffee".

Took myself to Third Rail, joked about my time lapse error to the employees there. A nice looking man drinking a cappuccino suggested I may have jumped the gun on day-light savings time starting Sunday. We got into a lovely discussion about my studies, his (past) travels and education in Egypt, my Californian roots, his career switch from the UN into film (why was he wearing sunglasses the whole time? He must have been famous). We chatted for half an hour about the Middle East, what happens as you get older, my birthday, Prague, and I have to admit I was a bit charmed, and hoped he would exchange contact information. But the conversation drifted, we slipped into the digital abyss, and he just became another pleasant memory of a lovely encounter with people in NYC. He bid me a "have a nice day", I replied with a "nice talking with you". I finished my coffee and left.

So I'm back at Bobst to start my day again, but not wishing anymore to hit "reset". Beauty came to my cold and bright morning. The park was crisp and calm. So Beauty comes and Beauty goes fleetingly - always elusive, never on demand. And yet always right under the layer of our self-absorbed projections. God always working in mysterious ways to kick me out of my routine and back into this moment. Back into life.

I'm taking the beauty of this moment. Others blamed my roommates: "Maybe they played a prank on you". I wouldn't put it past them. But today I'm blaming God. The power that one hour had on my entire state of being doesn't come out of nothingness.

That extra gift of time... truly a gift.