I’m not 100% sure the alarm went off. Usually, I wake up before hearing it and turn it off.
This morning, however I woke from a blissful sleep to look at the clock, which read “Uh, hello – 26 minutes late”. This rarely happens.
Leaping into action, doing two things at once, for the full 22 minutes between feet on the floor and me out the door, I was pretty proud of myself for keeping it together.
At the curb, there was a cab, as if the dispatcher knew I was tight on time. Fantastic.
At the train station, I breezed in, went straight to track 10E, which was the correct one. This was actually going quite well.
The train is empty, so my favorite seat was even available. Four minutes to spare. Awesome.
I said hello to the morning guy on the train. Commenting that I was lucky my seat was still there, he brought me the usual breakfast I order. I read the paper while I ate.
I still wasn’t completely sure whether I was awake – My eyes were open. I was interacting. Everything was going exactly right.
I trailed off into that twilight, not-quite-asleep/not-quite-awake zone.
About ten minutes ago, I felt the train stop. Shortly after, I had the sensation I was being watched. My hand was on something.
I opened my eyes. The Amtrak bomb-sniffing dog and his handler were looking at me with the exact same expression — “Uh. What are you doing?”
Looking down, I noticed I was absent-mindedly scratching the dog behind the ears.
When I fully wake in a few hours, I look forward to reading whatever I posted on Facebook this morning.
For now, this is your scratch behind the ears.