Just after 5 AM

My favorite time of day Walking down Culver Ave. in Utica at 5:30 in the morning. The sun begins to glow on the horizon. The air is cool. No one in sight,  just Shane and I walking quietly down the Parkway. We enter the parks.  Only one car and one person collecting cans from previous nights soft ball and basketball games.  The mist forms a transparent wall across the playgrounds. Shane is allowed to run and play off the leash.  Still, no one around.  He runs from tree to tree, from bush to bush, making his way eagerly around the abandoned fields.  It’s his world.  [...]