Defeating the Donuts

 

 

Smoke drifting from Canadian wildfires has been making sunrises and sunsets here in Minnesota more spectacular of late and this morning’s brief, but brilliant pink, yellow, violet and orange tableau was no exception.  Now that we are more than a month past daylight’s apogee back on the summer solstice, I have again been able to enjoy sunrises as I pedal to the commuter train station at 6 AM.  In another month I will be using my bike headlight and will have to watch the sun rise while sitting on the train. 

 

There is just something so visceral and satisfying abou****ching the sun come up while you are outdoors.  You can feel a hint of what will be the heat of the day as it overtakes the coolness of the night.  Birds are already singing while most insects enjoy the last vestiges of their slumber.  The air is often still and awash in the fresh, clean smell of a new day.

 

However, this morning found me particularly bleary-eyed and cranky after having spent the past week on vacation in the north woods where I eschewed both television and the internet for simpler things.  I fished until midnight, I walked in the buggy woods, I picked wild blackberries while stepping over bear tracks left in the mud nearby, I biked more than 70 miles with dragonflies and grasshoppers occasionally bouncing off my chest, I got the old dock I had re-built into the lake (finally), and, most importantly, I thoroughly enjoyed spending extended time with my 5 month old grandson. 

 

Morning came early today and my attitude was, to be honest, exceedingly grim.   Nevertheless I got on my bike to start my commute, already running a few minutes late, a grumpy frown on my face.  Suddenly a doe darted across the road not 20 yards in front of me, its tail waving at me as she bounded out of sight.  A few minutes later I heard some turkeys making racket in the brush as I rode by, and then I noticed that glorious sunrise through a light veil of fog.  My spirits were buoyed even further when I got an especially nice “good morning" text from a friend as I rode in on the train.

 

A dozen voicemails and nearly 100 e-mails greeted me when I arrived at my desk.  Ugh.  Double ugh.  To make matters worse, someone brought in several dozen very fresh, very fragrant, very tempting donuts and left them not ten feet from the printer I use in our media center.  I felt that old urge to assuage my morning’s discontent with one of those wonderful/horrible morsels.  Then I paused, just for a moment, to reflect on that sunrise, those kind words from a friend and the fact that I have become a healthy, fit person after decades of obesity.  The siren call of those damned donuts faded to a whisper and I walked away, finally ready to face my day’s work.

 

RP

Way to go RP! 

Working in an office setting is very challenging in it's own right with those damn donuts, cookies, cakes, candies and other misc. sugary sweet morsals brought in by folks to celebrate various different things!

I am currently listening to some left over birthday cake and muffins calling the siren call to me from the cubicle directly across from me...but I think i shall just put in some earplugs and ignore them