By Roger Barbee

Had I not changed my mind, I would have missed it. However, because I decided to take my coffee onto the screened porch instead of going into the library and turning on my computer, I witnessed the regular recurrence that is all the same, yet different.

Light had yet to penetrate the porch or any thing else. I could make out shadows, and I saw our four cats already lounging in baskets and favorite spots on the porch floor. The abelia bush was full of blooms and bees, which I could hear but not see. Male crickets called for mates from the pine needle mulch and way off a small boat engine revealed someone likely going to a favorite fishing hole before day broke. A dove cooed from a neighbor’s thicket of pine trees while a solitary crow called its mates from our trees near the lake. Off, over the  spit of Lake Norman we call home, the first distinct sunlight lit the darkness. Waiting for the sun to clear the horizon of Stutts Road, I drank the last of my coffee and knew that I had made the right, but fortunate, decision. After all, the computer could only offer me what I already knew-the news, a few emails, or WordPerfect.

The low clouds turned colors and began to look like a horizontal rainbow, I head more birds join the dove and crow, and I could distinguish the bees from the blossoms. A cat moved and stretched in its basket. A car rumbled down our road, carrying someone to work. The day was here, and I witnessed its birth.

Enjoy it, compliments of God!