Early mornings, when the sun isn’t up yet. There’s the scuffle of people moving around, getting out of bed, alarms going off in different series of rings. It’s the day of the mission, and everyone’s tense on their things that they have to do, before we start our attack. I’m usually sensitive to sound when I know I have an important time to meet, so I pick myself out quickly and stretch a bit. I sleep in my underwear, so I put on my green pixelated army pants. They’re really loose for some reason, or a really straight cut, which make them super wide. Under these gatherings of cloth, my feet find their way through and I capture them with my socks. Then come the boots.
My boots sit below my bed, or at the corner of the right side, if my bed mattress is on the floor. I prefer the right to the left. I slip my feet into them, and wiggle them in. Then in one straight pull upwards, the shoelaces tighten through the loops. I pull the lace clip towards the opening of the laces, and braid the end of the laces into a little chain.
I grab a pair of green gutters, and gather my loose pants into a neat tuck. I sneak the braid of laces into the tuck, and hope that it stays there as I run around for the rest of the day.
Then I put on a shirt and go brush my teeth.
The feeling of this whole process always makes me feel as if the day is starting. It makes me feel right, or prepared. There’s no good or bad feeling to it, but it feels ready. The feeling you get when the green walking light starts flashing on the road. The feeling of finishing a cup of water because you are thirsty. It’s not a good or bad feeling, its just there.
I really think because my time in the army is ending, that I keep capturing these snapshots of my time so far, and what I really think about them. I should draw this somehow I guess. or I’ll just write about it and maybe one day I’ll do something.