Meghan Hanson
Sample
American Studies
May, 19, 2005
This I Believe
I believe in the old saying, “the early bird gets the worm.” This may be a bit trite but in the experiences that I’ve had in my life, time and time again, the old adage proves to be true.
Consider powder days. To me, it is completely worth it to set my alarm for 6 a.m. on a night when it’s just starting to dump outside. Wake up at 6, call snow report and see if Mother Nature was kind overnight. It only takes a minute to look out the window and make the phone call. If the snow didn’t come, I roll over and go back to bed. Ah, but if it did, if it did…jump into my clothes, make a pb&j to go, lace up my boots, grab my board, and press glass for awhile. The early bird gets the worm here because the satisfaction and pure joy of being the first to hit my favorite stash is unbeatable.
Consider concerts at Red Rocks or the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California. The beauty of these two venues is that the tickets are designated as General Admission so tickets aren’t sold for a specific seat. When people show up, they sit where they want. Personally, I like to be in the very front row when I’m seeing my favorite bands. So to me, it makes sense to be the early bird and get to the show in the morning for that night’s show. Sure, the gates don’t open until much, much later but I don’t mind the wait and it’s totally worth it to be five feet from Eddie Vedder or Widespread Panic when they are rocking out to a sold-out crowd. And there are definitely those folks who roll into shows five minutes before the start and expect to invade my space up front but a polite “dude, I’ve been here since seven a.m.” usually prevents anyone from standing directly in front of me. If not, a well-placed elbow works.
Consider my old summer job waiting tables at the Grand Lake Lodge. Perched on a ledge right outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, the lodge overlooks Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Lake, and Lake Granby, all three resting in the shadows of majestic Mount Baldy and the jagged Never Summer range. When I waited tables there, nobody on the wait staff wanted to work the 6 a.m. breakfast shift. People typically were exhausted from staying up way too late the night before and became quite surly on the morning shifts they were assigned. Really though, I didn’t think it was so bad. I got to walk through the property with the high mountain chill in the air and brew the first pot of coffee. Getting the first and freshest cup of coffee is definitely an early bird perk, on any day for that matter. Setting up the porch dining room for breakfast was quiet and calm, the fog rising off of the lakes and the sun peeking in. It gave me down time to think. Time to think about the plans I’d make for fall, the summer romances gone good or bad, and what I’d do with my life once I left the Grand Lake Lodge. By the time the restaurant opened for breakfast, I was calm, relaxed, and ready to deal with people in the long day ahead.
Consider the Jersey shore. The time I most appreciate down at the beach is the time I spend running at the water’s edge before the heat of the day sets in, before the little kids with their shrill voices and colored, plastic pails dig their pits, and before the hordes of Jersey folk with their oiled tans, oversized umbrellas, and Bon Jovi fan Club shirts crowd in to stake their claims on the sand.
Consider me as a teacher, a huge role in my life now. The only way I ever get anything read or graded is getting up at the crack of dawn and buzzing through some work, fueled by caffeine, for a few hours. It’s a good time to do it. The house is quiet, the Flat Tops look exquisite out the window, and I’m clear-headed from a night’s rest. And let’s face it; as much as I love teaching, I surely don’t want to spend my entire weekend days playing catch up.
I’m not saying that I do everything early or that it always pays off. I surely don’t want to be someone who leaves this life on planet earth too soon, like some friends and loved ones have unfortunately done. I relish a brilliant sunset and love the moon immensely. But there’s something to be said about driving east out of Denver on I-70 as the big red ball of sun inches its way up over the plains; or watching the sunrise from the eastern terminal at Newark airport through the gap where the twin towers used to stand; or being the first one at a garage sale and scoring the antique glass; or remembering to call the Ore House for a reservation on a Friday morning in January so that I get my favorite table on that busy Friday night; or getting to church early on Christmas Eve so that I don’t have to stand in the back; or waking up at dawn in Costa Rica to watch the howler monkeys play near the porch; or getting to my favorite bakery when it opens to get the freshest Irish soda bread. There are definitive perks to being the early bird, as cliché as the old saying may be. But really, for my personal tastes, it’d be much more appetizing if the saying was “the early bird gets the donut.” Worms, after all, are gross.