I Own This Town

Getting those coffee cakes baked off in time for the wife to take them to her early class meant rising about 5:30. The first order of business was to acquire some new eggs (I wasn’t about to use those runny old things for my glaze). Happily the mega-mart two blocks away is open all night. And what a beautiful warm morning it was. The kind of dark and breezy pre-dawn where you just stumble down your porch steps and into the world. There’s something special about being up around the 5:00 hour and on the streets. It’s the time when just about everyone except the really serious joggers are in bed. Back in the day, having my own little baking business in Chicago, there was nothing like being out making deliveries before the sun came up, when even the gansters were asleep. I own this town is the feeling it gives you. I felt it when I reprised the biz here in Louisville. I can’t say I ever loved dragging my tired behind out of bed at 3:00 AM (especially once my daughter was born), but the pride of being up and productive at an hour when the rest of the world’s still drooling…it’s unique. Like being on watch.

A little bit of that old pride wafted in on the breeze on my way back. Felt good…mighty good.