Before the World Wakes Up
It isn't often for me to rise before the sun does. It's incredible how different the world looks still blanketed in stars, somehow crisper in the early hours of the morning compared to the inky infinity from the night before. I recently read an article, the subject of which is irrelevant here, but it was from a lifestyle magazine and I have been thinking of that term since then: lifestyle. What does that word really even mean? How often must we do something before it becomes a lifestyle? Is it frequency or quality that defines what we do as a lifestyle? I admit I don't know that my life has ever fit into any simple definitions of lifestyle. I've had chickens, gardened, I enjoy boutique shopping in downtowns, and am a sucker for a good coffee shop, but none of those occur regularly enough to be considered part of my lifestyle. In the dictionary, lifestyle compiles many aspects of a person's life into one - habits, economic standing, routines, one's values, and even our diets. It feels like so many of these facets of our being are always subject to change - or more accurately, the target of our desire for change. People strive to exercise more, change their diets, stop and smell the roses. It seems we're all after some particular lifestyle and rarely, are we happy with the one we've already established despite the fact that we've obviously made many choices in our day-to-day to solidify that lifestyle over others. Don't get me wrong, self-improvement is a good thing, but there is something to be said for appreciating the life we've made for ourselves just as it is in this moment. Right now.
Of all the facets of my life to change, my time with my loved ones isn't one I'd care to alter, but life often has other plans and I have faith that these plans will be prosperous. This brings me to the crisp stars of the morning.
Orion was laid out before me, stretching in his ancient vastness - old light I'm just now seeing, and I can't help but wonder how many individuals he's guided over the last thousand years since his light was first emitted - light, in its infancy, that Charlemagne would have seen. This morning, I was able to awaken early - my children still nestled and cozy in their beds - and go for a ride with my husband. We rode through the darkness, the wind cool and full of aromas from farmlands surrounding us - smells of grass, water from our local river, and even of mint at one point. The stars gave way to morning's light as we chased the sunrise - brilliant pinks to creamy, angelic-white clouds as the sun began to make its climb. We stopped in a nearby town we'd not yet fully explored and sat and watched the sun ascend in the deserted downtown. Shops all permanently closed around us, realtor's signs of various ages and wear slapped across windows or hanging from awnings reminding me that nothing is immune to the passage of time and the passing whims of humanity.
The sun began to brighten the sky - dawn of a new day with infinite possibilities and one certainty: it would end at some point and it is up to me to make the most of the hours between dawn and dusk. A new job will take my husband far away and quite often. This is not new
to us - as a former military wife, I signed on for a life much apart, geographically, from my spouse. And while I have been enormously blessed with an abundance of time with him and my whole family as we have worked remotely and homeschooled for the past few years, it seems new change is in the wind. I welcome it - I have no doubt of our ability to weather distance and make the most of what time we will have knowing it is one of many sacrifices we've made as a family and my husband has made for us. But, naturally, it does make the moments sweeter, inherently. Sitting with him today, it was almost counterintuitive - to literally watch time pass as the sun made its ascent - but still somehow feel like it stopped on Main street just for us to savor. So when I think about the term lifestyle, and how - at its very center - its really just about routines, habits, and daily behaviors that reinforce what matters most to us, I suppose my lifestyle is family itself. These important people reside at the very core of who I am and drive all my movements on any given day - even before the day has really started. These habits, behaviors, beliefs, and even diets - we all share them. What is your lifestyle? What habits and beliefs shape your world and in what ways does the constant reshaping of your world challenge those things? I don’t need an answer, really, but it’s something to think about— and best to do so under a blanket or stars or as the sun rises or falls. I don’t know why these are the best times to think, they just are.
-Jennifer
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