That One Time I Moo'd

I look forward to my bike ride to work. For me it's a half hour to fully wake up and start feeling alive. I don't know if I'm a morning person or not. I enjoy the quietness, color of the sky, and the crisp undisturbed air. But I can't carry on a conversation and I get grumpy if I try. Years ago, I quickly found out that the 5 a.m. barista shift was not for me. A grumpy morning talker trying to serve espresso to grumpy people pre-caffeine? I'm surprised I wasn't fired. If I had my way, customers would have written their orders on scrap paper and if they didn't make eye contact with me I might make their drink. It would depend on if they had brushed their teeth.

For the sake of this story, I'll say I'm a morning person unless there are other people involved. Something happened last week. The sun was warm, the sky was clear and blue, birds were chirping, and the flowers looked just right in the morning light. What's this feeling? Happy in the morning? My usual scowl must have softened and the prickly warning I emit cautioning others not to even bother nodding a hello turned fluffy. I passed another bicyclist while walking through the Ballard Locks and I found myself turning my head to look at him, smiling, and saying hello. WHAT? And then I matched his pace for an exchange about the weather? And can you believe I didn't even want to push him over the fence into the duck-filled water below?

After I passed him and turned the corner I came across an oncoming bicyclist. I was still in shock over my pleasant morning encounter and was running the conversation over in my head. My shackles had not yet raised back up and while I was still showing signs of pleasantry, this second bicyclist nodded and said hello. Because of the activity in my head and being somewhat surprised, my greeting didn't come out as planned. My brain tried to say hi, g'morning, and good day all at the same time but it came out as "guhrmooooooooo....."

And I didn't even look around to see who else might have seen me walking by myself, mooing, and laughing out loud. It was the kind of good morning that makes the rest of my day.