Good morning

Hubby and I recently moved house. The story of that is for another time, but since moving to our new "chez nous" we have understandably been going through a period of adaptation.

Only this time it's different. Whereas with our previous place I never felt completely "at home" (even after living there 3 years), this place immediately became familiar and comfortable for me. There are several things that have accounted for that, but the main one I found has been the change to my mornings.

You see, we went from living in a 6th floor apartment, facing an immense park on one side and water canal on the other in a relatively quiet neighborhood, to living on the second floor of a building located on a busy high street (or "main" if you will) with a highly successful restaurant on the ground floor and across the road from several busy and lively pubs.

In our previous place, I dreaded mornings. The silence reserved to those living 6 floors above the ground, or the occasional chirping of the birds flying over the trees in the park across our street, or the howling wind of a wintry morning, made me hate getting out of bed. It always felt as if I was waking up in some "far away place", almost like on vacation, in a warm bed with comfy covers and the idea of getting out for the "nothing waiting out there" as the peace and calmness seemed to suggest, made me a very grumpy person in the mornings. It wasn't until I was finally out the door and on my way to work, leaving the park and its false promise of "not a care in the world" behind and stepping into the chaos and commotion of the "the City" (both literally and figuratively), that I felt myself start to relax and enjoy mornings.

Because this is when the familiar and comforting feeling of reality would return.

I don't live in the countryside or in a far away beach. It is not normal for me to wake up to the sound of chirping birds and gentle breezes. For 9 years before moving to London I lived in an overcrowded city where the familiar sounds of people shouting on the streets, cars angrily honking their horns as the rushed down the road and shops lifting their noisy iron curtains, greeted me every morning.

As crazy as it may seem, these sounds are comforting to me.

They remind me that life is waiting for me out there. Exciting, fast-paced, adventurous things are happening outside my door and the sooner I get in the shower and throw on some clothes the sooner I can go out into the world and discover what exciting new things the day has in store for me. I love the rush that comes from hearing those city sounds outside my window and wondering what else will happen in the day. For me, they are the reminder that we are alive in a world filled with ever-changing nooks and cracks, and I am part of it.

So when we moved to our new place and realized the windows in our bedroom, which we leave open to survive the heat of these summer evenings, once again let the "noise" of the city slowly creep into our room every morning, I suddenly noticed that I no longer needed an alarm clock or a kick in the butt to get out of the bed in the morning.

Instead I now wake up to a daily reminder that life, REAL life, is waiting for me outside and find myself jumping out of bed with a feeling of urgency to go out and seize the day.

Fned.