And now, here it is...your moment of Zen

4 a.m.

If you can handle it, even just once, go for a drive sometime at around 4a.m. Watch your town sleep. Find out how different it can look.

There's a fairly specific window - up until about 3a.m. you still have the late-night bar-crawlers, out looking for something to eat after last call; after 5 people start stirring, getting up & getting out (yes, it's hard to believe if you're not one of those people, but you'd be surprised how many lighted windows I see after 5a.m.)

At 4 o'clock everything is very still. Traffic lights are blinking, morning radio isn't on yet, and one out of every three cars you pass will be a cop. Wendy's and Taco Bell are closed. Businesses have their overnight lights on - those lights that, for whatever reason, never get turned off. At the State Bank on 66th, there's an office in the back that always has the light on. There are ad posters, and some clothes hanging inside - promo stuff? - but I've never seen anybody in there...probably because it's 4 in the morning.

Anyone you happen to run into at that hour will be surprised to see you.

Here in Lubbock, in the middle of the night, the local ducks leave their ponds and wander the streets. I've come across ducks in the weirdest places...

If you stay out until 6, McDonald's and the grocery stores start to open, and people start looking outside to see if the paper's there. Breakfast options abound, because everything in the bakeries is first-thing-in-the-morning fresh, and there's usually a pot of just-brewed coffee somewhere.

If you're still out & about after that, and it's a weekend, you can probably find a few garage sales and get the good early-bird items.

Or you can do what I'm about to do - go home and go back to sleep.

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