Finding the little joys

It’s before 5:00 am, and murky gray light creeps beneath the curtain of the bedroom window. Outside, the robins are sharing their first exchanges of the day, while the flock of grackles that congregate in the western windbreak reply: “Hush-up hush-up, we’ve heard enough.” I peek out. There’s a fine mist hovering over the prairie grass, brushed to pearl by the imminent arrival of dawn. It’s…