My 12 year old daughter standing next to the bed saying, “Mommy it’s 7:00”.

The sweet, gentle snoring of our dog…can’t stand to hear a person snore, but this dog is such a beautiful symphony.

I’m lucky my body wakes me at about the same time each morning so no need for an alarm clock. If purring from my cat counts as sweet nothings LOL then that ‘s what I hear, but generally she’s ’ chirping’ at the birds and then purring when she sees I’m finally awake.

The cats, but it’s not so much the sounds that they make …. it’s the sense of 4 sets of eyeballs staring at me and the pitter-patter of 16 little paws walking on me!

Some kind of news. The minute I’m vertical, I turn something on, TV or radio, depending on what time it is. Then, bathroom noises, and my own voice telling Henry “Good Morning” (he’s duty-bound to make sure I’m safe in there, so that’s usually where we share our morning moment). Then, the click of the locks and the sound of the front door opening so Henry can go out. Then, running water and the gurgle of the coffee-maker, soon to be interrupted by Henry’s whump at the door. (He can’t bear to be away from me for too long.) Then, dog food clattering into his dish. Some mornings, I have someplace to be, so my coffee cup follows me around while I undertake the grooming process. Most mornings I can crawl back under the covers with my coffee, while I sort out how I’m feeling and what the day expects of me. Birds aren’t always singing, and the sky’s not always blue, but both are going on today, and I don’t have to be anywhere til 4:00, so it’s nice.

I wake up early and the first thing I notice is the quiet. It is the one time of the day when I am not being bombarded by sound (of my own or someone else’s making) and I relish it.

I’m a lucky woman. The first sound I hear most mornings are the cute little grunts and moans from my man, letting me know the start to our morning is going to be sweet! It’s nice to have the time and the leisure - our kids are grown and the cat isn’t allowed in the bedroom.

Birds, sometimes the chattering of squirrels when they’re involved in a dispute with a crow over some treasure they’ve found on the patio, thunder rumbling in the distance or right overhead, rain, strong winds, dogs barking in the distance and otherwise just blissful quiet. I miss my old dog who used to snore gently beside my bed but I’m not ready for another pet yet. When I was pregnant with my last child years ago, we had doves who had built a nest under the eaves of the bedroom window and they cooed during the night which was soothing and I often wondered if my son had heard them since he made similar sounds after his birth.

My sweet baby trying out his first vocal sounds, “baba dada baba”

the first thing i hear is the news (the tv in my house never goes off!!!) or water sloshing if i have slept in the tub…lol

my black & white cat purring

First birds chirping. Then my husband who wakes up cheerily, bless him, telling me to turn on the tv and then just starts talking about silly things. I on the other hand always feel like I am just coming out of a coma, man I wish I could figure out how he does it, oh well. The my dog comes and lays her head in my lap, patiently waiting for her first petting of the day. Hey, I have it pretty good.

My husband comes out and kisses me and whispers he loves me. With my disability he sleeps in the bed and I sleep on the couch. He gets up at 4:30a.m. and wakes me at 6:00a.m. so we can spend time together for and hour before he goes off to work.

For us, living in an urban park forrest as we do, its the sound of a Mourning Dove cooing in the distance. Except of course on Wednesday morning when its the garbage truck making its rounds in the neighborhood. Then on Friday mornings its the sound of the lawn mowers and blowers as the grounds crew mow grass and blow away dust and leaves and tree pollen. This week our early alarm on Tuesday was the tree trimmers who are trimming some of the forrest trees and feeding those trimmings into the chipper. But thats only occasionally. I I awaken at 4:00AM as I do sometimes, its very quiet except I hear an occasional neighbor’s car pull out of his driveway and head off to work. Then silence again. And thats my time to pray and have a little talk with God. These are highly treasured times for me. When I finally get up out of bed and head down the stairs to the kitchen, its time to make coffee, which is followed by a cuppa hot coffee and a step out onto the patio into the early morning sun as it comes into my patio garden. Wow!! Im awake and the orange tree in the neighbors yard is filling the patio with the sweet fragrance of orange blossoms..in competition with the jasmine and the namesia..Another day in paradise!!