This is such beautiful writing, Tansie. So calm and evocative and meditative.
I'm writing this as I lie awake at 4am, listening to the frogs calling out to the moonlit sky. We're on holiday in Malaysia but my body has become so used to the early-rising routine I've established in Beijing that I wake even when there are no school lunches to pack or buses to catch. I love this beautiful, heart-filled time of day, which gives me sustenance for all the craziness to come. Life with two boys, right? 😊
Thank you for filling this early morning with such beauty. 💕
So beautiful Tansie…i love the word uhta and the feel of it as you describe so evocatively. Over the past four years i too have become very well acquainted with the predawn hours. Despite the exhaustion there is a much beauty to be found there, the light in the summer and the air feels so different to any other time of day. I used to have a morning practice (before children) but now i can’t seem to leave sleeping children without them sensing it and so i don’t have that magical time to sink into the day…i yearn for quiet mornings as they are always sooo full on and i seem to be needed intensely from the moment eyes are open! However I am grateful that both children now seem to sleep a little longer (touch wood!) and i can get a little more sleep to equip me for the day. My new idea is to reintroduce a sort of morning practice on the three mornings i am able to take my two to nursery xx
Yes, the air is different isn’t it, purer some how. I’ve had the same experience with them waking the moment I move. It’s starting to get a little better and some mornings I can slip away. Yes, morning practice a few days a week is better than none! Like everything about motherhood, it come and goes. Some weeks I can get up early 5 days and some weeks will struggle to do it once.
Yes to the purity of the air but I can only imagine how different the air here in London feels to yours in Indonesia. And you are right, I have been guilty in the past of writing things off when I feel I can’t do them ‘properly’ but a little is better than nothing and got to flow with it! xx
Extraordinarily beautiful. Similar to Lauren, I too was nodding in resonance, finding solace and familiarity in the way you approach that special time of night and early dawn with reverence. It's been some time since I've done that, so thank you for reminding me. My sacred time these days has shifted to 1-2AM, when the day's work is done, and I can sink into those timeless hours at the piano before drifting off to sleep.
Piano before bed sounds beautiful. We take these little moments to ourselves where we can. And there is more reverence I guess for something that’s more scarce
Gosh I miss my morning time. My son nurses through the night and I can’t seem to get up before him, but I long to. Mornings before the world wakes up is my favorite time of day, I love the morning quiet so much.
It’s so hard when they are up through the night so much, I’m only slowly coming out of that myself and it’s incredibly draining. Sending you strength and hoping in the not too distant future you’ll be up on your own with a cup of tea and the sunrise 💛
This is stunning and I found myself nodding in resonance at that need to have just a few moments to myself before everyone else wakes and the chaos begins. When I don’t get that I am so much more irritable!! A beautiful piece. I’ve always been an early riser, was born just before sunrise in August so think it’s my natural time. Sunrise is my medicine. Thank you for the chance to reflect on this xxx
So beautiful, i love that you’ve been able to make that time your own.
I love the early morning and used to love spending it in a bath or with a hot drink in hand but current life stages and living circumstances mean that whenever my youngest wakes is when I also get up and the day begins, usually between 5 and 6 but sometimes later. I currently very rarely get any alone time so I just do the best I can to survive at the moment haha
Yes! It has taken a good four years and it’s still not every morning. Last week my youngest woke up so early every morning so I had zero time. It comes and goes but I’m loving when I do get that time now.
I love the idea of a bath first thing in the morning. We don’t have a bath where we are now and I miss it so much.
I never thought that it would take me 4 years to get some alone time (and that I would have to wake up so early to get it) but your time will come. So much is just survival in these early years 💛
Life with two boys means mustering enough strength every morning to make it through the day. Every evening we are utterly exhausted. Hope you’ve had the most blissful holiday. As relaxing as a holiday with kids can be 😉
This is such beautiful writing, Tansie. So calm and evocative and meditative.
I'm writing this as I lie awake at 4am, listening to the frogs calling out to the moonlit sky. We're on holiday in Malaysia but my body has become so used to the early-rising routine I've established in Beijing that I wake even when there are no school lunches to pack or buses to catch. I love this beautiful, heart-filled time of day, which gives me sustenance for all the craziness to come. Life with two boys, right? 😊
Thank you for filling this early morning with such beauty. 💕
So beautiful Tansie…i love the word uhta and the feel of it as you describe so evocatively. Over the past four years i too have become very well acquainted with the predawn hours. Despite the exhaustion there is a much beauty to be found there, the light in the summer and the air feels so different to any other time of day. I used to have a morning practice (before children) but now i can’t seem to leave sleeping children without them sensing it and so i don’t have that magical time to sink into the day…i yearn for quiet mornings as they are always sooo full on and i seem to be needed intensely from the moment eyes are open! However I am grateful that both children now seem to sleep a little longer (touch wood!) and i can get a little more sleep to equip me for the day. My new idea is to reintroduce a sort of morning practice on the three mornings i am able to take my two to nursery xx
Yes, the air is different isn’t it, purer some how. I’ve had the same experience with them waking the moment I move. It’s starting to get a little better and some mornings I can slip away. Yes, morning practice a few days a week is better than none! Like everything about motherhood, it come and goes. Some weeks I can get up early 5 days and some weeks will struggle to do it once.
Yes to the purity of the air but I can only imagine how different the air here in London feels to yours in Indonesia. And you are right, I have been guilty in the past of writing things off when I feel I can’t do them ‘properly’ but a little is better than nothing and got to flow with it! xx
Extraordinarily beautiful. Similar to Lauren, I too was nodding in resonance, finding solace and familiarity in the way you approach that special time of night and early dawn with reverence. It's been some time since I've done that, so thank you for reminding me. My sacred time these days has shifted to 1-2AM, when the day's work is done, and I can sink into those timeless hours at the piano before drifting off to sleep.
Thank you Michael,
Piano before bed sounds beautiful. We take these little moments to ourselves where we can. And there is more reverence I guess for something that’s more scarce
Gosh I miss my morning time. My son nurses through the night and I can’t seem to get up before him, but I long to. Mornings before the world wakes up is my favorite time of day, I love the morning quiet so much.
It’s so hard when they are up through the night so much, I’m only slowly coming out of that myself and it’s incredibly draining. Sending you strength and hoping in the not too distant future you’ll be up on your own with a cup of tea and the sunrise 💛
Thank you, I deeply appreciate it. I remind myself it is not forever and those mornings will come back.
This is stunning and I found myself nodding in resonance at that need to have just a few moments to myself before everyone else wakes and the chaos begins. When I don’t get that I am so much more irritable!! A beautiful piece. I’ve always been an early riser, was born just before sunrise in August so think it’s my natural time. Sunrise is my medicine. Thank you for the chance to reflect on this xxx
Thanks Lauren, and yep, I get you on the irritability! Sunrise is a medicine isn’t it, such a magic way to start a day.
So beautiful, i love that you’ve been able to make that time your own.
I love the early morning and used to love spending it in a bath or with a hot drink in hand but current life stages and living circumstances mean that whenever my youngest wakes is when I also get up and the day begins, usually between 5 and 6 but sometimes later. I currently very rarely get any alone time so I just do the best I can to survive at the moment haha
Yes! It has taken a good four years and it’s still not every morning. Last week my youngest woke up so early every morning so I had zero time. It comes and goes but I’m loving when I do get that time now.
I love the idea of a bath first thing in the morning. We don’t have a bath where we are now and I miss it so much.
I never thought that it would take me 4 years to get some alone time (and that I would have to wake up so early to get it) but your time will come. So much is just survival in these early years 💛
So special to have it. But it’s also so weird to think it won’t be like this forever. One day they’ll be teenagers and sleep until 10 haha.
I miss having a bath too! They’re so wonderful
I know! One day I’m going to be begging for morning cuddles!
Life with two boys means mustering enough strength every morning to make it through the day. Every evening we are utterly exhausted. Hope you’ve had the most blissful holiday. As relaxing as a holiday with kids can be 😉