Have you ever seen the sunrise on a mountain morning

My arms, legs and chest are sore. It is amazing what muscles get used when jogging. I will do my kung fu tomorrow and be back out jogging on Weds. It really isn't that bad once you get into it.

What strikes me though is the peacefulness of the morning. Often I am hitting the street long before the sun's rays flow across the land, gently nudging everything awake. Everything except me. I usually don't take my Ipod with me. Although I should. It would be nice to have the 2,000 plus songs to keep me company. And maybe as I get better at this I will. For now, I just want to concentrate on what I am doing. One foot in front of the other, breathe in breathe out kinda thing.

As I hit the half way point and I turn around to head home, I get to see the sun starting to come up. A clear crisp High Plains morning. There is something magical about it. Sometimes my rhythmic stepping falters as I lose myself in the beauty of the moment. The pinks and oranges, and a hint of purple create such a beauty that makes you want to stop and stare for a lifetime.

As the suns rays gently caress me, I am more aware of how much we as people need the sun. On this particular morning the temperature was barely 32 and the warmth of the rays would have been comforting. Like a blanket wrapped around you on a rainy day.

My breathing was heavy, raspy like. If someone didn't know better they may have assumed I was up to no good. But I can assure you that wasn't the case. I stared at the painted sky as I came into the last hundred feet of my jog. My mind lost focus on my jogging. I felt like I was staring into heaven itself. I crossed my mark and came to a walk. I continued to look at the sky.

As I came to the end of my endeavor, I noticed that the suns rays weren't yet in the sky. Its light was there but no glowing ball yet. I heard birds chirping, saw them bathing in the puddles, preparing themselves for breakfast. They, like me were going through their morning routine.

I made it home and walked into the house. I switched on the coffee pot, woke up my wife and sat down on the end of my bed. I stretched my legs and arms, grabbed my clothes and hopped in the shower.

I tried not to linger in the shower, because I knew as soon as I got out the peacefulness of the morning would be shattered. The boys would be awake, or semi-awake, and my wife would be hurrying about trying to get ready to go to work. I would then have to be dressed, ready to take her to work only to then follow it up with taking the kids to school and then going to work myself.

Now I am here at work. I am editing photos for this weeks paper while listening to Mike Ness on my Ipod. My morning is coming to an end. More correctly would be my morning is over. So tonight I will go to sleep, happy to accept the pre-dawn darkness that I will wake to. Ready to watch the sun wake the earth once morning.