krach

I enjoy order, routine and being depended on. I arrive no later than 4 minutes early to work even if I leave 5 minutes after I had intended. “Arriving early is expected” except that I walk 20 minutes to a 7 AM opening shift for an academic building that doesn’t hold classes, on a campus where 8 AMs are the norm and main reason students get up before the sun does. Hence there is no one in the building for the first hour of my shift, without fail. I wander the building, turning on lights, fixing shades and chairs (that should’ve been rearranged by the closing shift) and contemplate what it would have been like to have snoozed my alarm, hit resume on my dream and lay in my warm cozy bed for just a few more hours. 

Around 7:20 AM while performing my opening duties, I realized that work doesn’t feel like work to me. 

Instead just a new addition to my list of responsibilities and a gifted opportunity uniquely for me. I’m up before the building and tasked with her wake up call. I get to admire her stillness in every corner and behind every closed door and although I pride myself in my attention to detail, I seem to notice and appreciate nuances I wouldn’t have without this new responsibility. I adore the decor, each floor monochromatically coded: chairs, tables, signs all agree and create an atmosphere unique to its level. The lights under the railing illuminate a path from one environment to the next and the fishbowl design allows me to watch the rest of the campus wake and begin conquering their own individual responsibilities for the day. Mostly I enjoy the rare opportunity to be fully alone on a college campus. I am in charge of my potential interactions as the world around me surrenders it’s silence, welcomes its wake up call and fosters another day for growth and new opportunities.