I haven’t needed an alarm clock for years now, because I have two furry ones. Today, it’s 4:10 AM, a little early even for me. Graidy usually has the decency to wait until about 5:00 AM before rousing me out of bed. (Another quality people should be aware of when getting high energy/herding dogs is that they’re ready to go at the crack of dawn–literally. ) Fortunately, I like to get up early to write, in the quiet, when everyone else remains peacefully sleeping. Imagination expands easily in the darkness of these predawn hours.

The dogs and I head downstairs and outside. I look up at the stars as they go about their business. Some mornings we’ll catch the movement of deer or other wildlife out in the field, while the cicadas serenade us. Then we all shuffle back up to my study where we’ll all congregate on the guest bed to snuggle before I fire up the computer again. Once the little “nanu nanu” welcome sound comes on, Kiera and Graidy (and on most mornings now, Finnegan, too) curl up around me and let me get to work. The next few hours are wholly mine. Life is good. I am lucky.