Twenty-some years ago, my friend Polly and I used to meet at 6:00 a.m. to go biking around Shaker Lakes (a gorgeous short string of small lakes, woods, and wetlands/marsh connected by an all-purpose trail). By cycling standards, we didn’t go far–a total of maybe six or seven miles door-to-door. But the rides were less about the exercise and more about sharing with a friend a time of day that many people seem to hate.

The early morning holds promise. You haven’t screwed up anything yet or lost your patience or your temper.  No one has wronged you or cut you off in traffic or taken the last donut. The day is yours for the taking. We only have so much on this earth, so many hours in a day. I like being awake. Getting up early seems to add more hours to do the day. I’ve gotten some writing done already, and it’s only 6:30.

Polly and I decided that getting up early was actually much cooler than staying up late. All the hipsters stay up late. Sometimes I’m pretty sure I’m waking up while most of my friends are going to bed. Lots of people gripe that they “can’t get up that early” (however early “that” may be). If not everyone can do it, then it must be exclusive, so all the hipsters should be falling all over themselves to wake up at 5:30 and see what the world has to offer, right?

Or maybe not. I kind of like keeping it exclusive.