6am

I woke up much earlier than normal.  Dinosaurs were invading my childhood home in my dreams, which didn?t work wonders for my sleeping. Besides the dinosaurs, there were thoughts and concerns over my career and direction in life.  They were thoughts that adults had and I wasn’t quite sure I was comfortable with them.

A cool breeze filtered through the tree next to my balcony.  The city was still quiet except for the drone of the large air conditioners of the tall buildings around me.  Across the way, people staying at the Four Seasons were waking up, soon to be headed to their 9am meeting or back to the airport where they will catch an early morning flight back home.  There was a slight fog, which blurred the top of the Bank of America Plaza.

Being up at dawn always reminded me of traveling when I was a kid.  In our trips across the country, we?d wake up at 5:30 in a hotel and pack our bags back into our car when the only thing you would hear would be the drone of the air conditioners from the other rooms.  We were told to talk quietly in order not to wake the other guests.  I felt that same quiet respect, like early morning was a meeting at church.

People started to walk down the street in front of the apartment building.  Most of them were construction workers heading to the mostly-completed high-rise condo in the shape of an ?S? half a block away.

I sat on the balcony and listened to the birds chatter in the trees.  Slowly the sound of cars grew as people in the building headed off to their jobs/classes/appointments.  Soon, I would join them, but not quite yet.

Right then, I would close my computer and my eyes and feel the morning air drifting past.