4 am serenity
I woke up this morning at 4am and it took me a while to get back to sleep. This would normally be a problem, since I teach a class at 8am, but it didn't bother me this time. The house was completely silent, so I just laid motionless, enjoying the silence, as Depeche Mode would say. There were no cars driving down the street, no children playing, no car radios blaring. The house was warm enough that the furnace wasn't turning on, and the usual low background hum of cars on the highway 2 miles to the south was absent. The birds were sleeping in the trees and there was nary a quack from the ducks in the creek. There was no wind to caress my windchimes or make the tree branches near my window rustle and sigh. Even my usually nocturnal cats were sleeping. It was utterly quiet and peaceful. We become so used to all the various background noise that fills our day, that we are actually surprised when we encounter true silence. Even though I knew I really needed to get back to sleep, I stayed awake for a while, embracing this elusive serenity before the chaos returned with the sun. It was lovely.