I love being awake in the morning

It's such a different feeling getting up at 6:30 rather than 8 or 9:30. Somehow the day seems so much longer, seems to have so much more potential. I think it puts me in better spirits.

I went to bed last night somewhere around 9:30. What woke me up this morning was not my alarm, which was set for 6:30, but a text message from my mom at 6:20 telling me her new phone number. I didn't know Mom was generally up at that time :>

Regardless, I got plenty of sleep, so I was able to get right up, get packed, get my shower, and spend some time with Sean, and I'm still ahead of my 8 o'clock target departure time. I should get to Kentucky in plenty of time for the cookout at my parents' house :)

I'm better prepared for the drive this time, too: I have a long-sleeve shirt to wear in the car and a tank top under it for when I'm out of the car, so I can foil the evil UV rays that have already left what can only be called a tan line on my left arm. (I guess I do tan, after all.) It's a trucker's tan, but it deepened when I went to the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame's Botanical Gardens the other day, to see everything in bloom for the first time, and to see the grounds where Sean and I got married one last time before they closed. (Pictures are here. The zen hoop sure looks different with plant life on it...)

I don't know if I feel so good today because I'm up in the morning, because I got a lot of sleep, because I'm off work for the rest of the week, or because I'm heading home to see my family. It's probably a combination of all of the above.

It really does seem to make a difference for me to go to bed and get up at geezer hours, though. There's something about the morning sun that isn't the same as noon approaches, and isn't the same as the setting sun, either. When I tried getting up early that one time to go to work, I felt really good all day, though tired towards the end of my workday. But right now, I feel optimistic about my ability to work that out.

Ah, mornings are awesome.

Okay, time to pack up the laptop and hit the road. I'll try to keep everyone Twittered...but at the least, expect some Fourth of July pics soon.