The wave of heat permeating the room and the bright light unobstructed by the blinds covering the windows can only mean one thing: it's daytime, probably 11 o'clock – the hour when the conditions in my bedroom are most intense because of the position of the sun in the sky.
My "utmost accurate" atomic alarm clock, always seven to 12 minutes slow (depending on its mood), confirms it – 11:09. I roll over, stretching my legs and arching my back to get the nine hours of sleep out of them. Not bad for a second-year-junior-in-standing college student who averages two to three hours each night.
It's Saturday. My legs feel like staying under the covers all day, but my profusely sweating torso suggests that I at least get up to turn on the AC. But I feel good (or at least not like the way I usually feel when I have to drag myself out of bed after a mere couple of hours of bonding with my pillow), so I think I'll get up and stay up.
Coffee – if I'm up to stay I'll need it. And what luck! My parents got me Dunkin Donuts brand coffee as an Easter present. Doughnut shop coffee without even leaving my apartment. Doughnut shop coffee in my favorite mug – a little oddly-shaped cup with globe-colored blue and green scales – and not a plastic cup (you're welcome, Earth, and good morning).
Taking a seat on my comfortable red couch (my apartment's defining feature), I think about the day – what to do, where to go but not who to see. Today is mine; no need to complicate it with other people because there will be time for that later. I could take care of that one thing, try to deal with that one problem, attempt to resolve that one issue.
But not today. Maybe on one of those Sunday-mornin'-comin'-down days, but this is more of a Saturday-morning-rising-up day. So I jump in the shower. After the hard, hot water pounds my back for a bit, I lather up all over, wash away the yesterday and jump out. I dress and grab my sunglasses, lock up my apartment and walk down the stairs to exit the building.
As I step out onto the sidewalk, feeling the sun on my skin, I think, here it is. This is it. Here's the thing, this day to beat all days is the thing, the only thing on my mind and the only thing I'm living for.
Contact Caleb Whisenant at whisenant@marshall.edu.
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