Morning Person

Uniqlo coat (similar)
Le Chateau sweater (c/o) (similar)
Mavi jeans (c/o)
Mango heels
Sezane tote (similar)
& Other Stories sunglasses
Gisel B. necklace (c/o)
Keltie Leanne Designs ring (c/o) (similar)
& Other Stories earrings
Location: Place de la Bourse – Bordeaux, France

Dear friends,

Tell me truthfully; how many of you consider yourselves to be a morning person? I ask because for years, I thought I was neither a morning person or a night owl. When asked, I would joke that I was more of a noon-to-six person. And I would say that I still feel little doubt that I am at my best between those hours. But I am, much to my chagrin, a morning person. I rise early with very few exceptions, and particularly if there is something exciting on my agenda for the day. On holiday, I find sleeping in next to impossible. In Bordeaux, I was up before the sun, even though we really had no firm plan for our second day in the city.

Just once, I would love to roll over on a holiday morning and see my clock read 8 am. But sometimes, the early morning rewards you in a way that, at least in my experience, the late night never can. Dressed and ready before 7:30, we made our way along the cobbled streets of Bordeaux towards the Garonne River. And when we reached Place de la Bourse, we were greeted by the kind of sunrise that inspires poetry. Light in shades of coral and gold flooded the square, centimetre by centimetre, until the whole of it was bathed in warm amber sunshine. To describe it was breathtaking is, frankly, inadequate.

Sometimes, being a morning person is aggravating. If I want to stay out late with friends, I need an afternoon nap. I prefer to be in bed by ten, knowing my internal alarm clock will likely ring before 6 am, jolting me awake. It is, in a word, tiresome – often literally.

But when you wake up early, you have a chance to see things that many people never will – and to experience a quiet version of the world that can feel like it belongs to no one but you. I have seen every shade of sunrise in cities all over the world. I’ve walked deserted sidewalks in Paris with the early sun shining on my face, knowing that in an hour, they will be teeming with people. I can get more done by nine am than most people do by noon – but I can also choose to do nothing but sip a cup of tea and wait for the rest of the world to come to life. Which is why, sometimes, being a morning person also feels a bit like a gift.