This morning I woke up at five am, and began stumbling around in the kitchen, my mind a blur, trying to figure out what I was having for breakfast; thinking did I have enough gas in my car; hoping I had a shirt ready that did not need to be ironed ... and suddenly I remembered that I had the day off. And, in that instant, my mood changed. My mind went from a blur to crystal clear. I put on a pot of coffee, fished out some breakfast foods, threw on an old t-shirt and felt myself relax in the knowledge that this was one of those days that I was on my own schedule.

A few minutes later with the coffee perking and my nose buried in a book (Steve Lopez's The Soloist) . I looked up at the clock and saw that it was only 5:45 ... hot damn. Still, I had a feeling that I should be doing something. I pushed that feeling aside, poured myself a cup of joe and went back to reading.

A few moments later, I put the book down and went out on the deck. It was chilly, and the sun was coming up to a chorus of birds chirping like crazy. Sipping my coffee, I watched as some of my early-bird neighbors were rushing to their cars. Tomorrow I'd be one of them, but for now, I was merely a spectator, and that felt great.

Back inside I switched on the television and was instantly greeted by some bubble head blond on one of the local stations going on about the latest shooting, or economic problem or something ... I quickly switched the station to Turner Classic Movies and let the soundtrack to some old film from the 1930's serve as my morning back ground noise.

Then I made breakfast, took a quick shower and settled in for the rest of my day ... a day filled with the unmitigated bliss of nothingness.

Tomorrow, of course, will be back to the norm, but for now, this will do just fine.

Have a great day, everyone!