I woke up before dawn today

It was my quiet time

Nobody around and no distractions

I waited for the sunrise on the balcony

She came with a fanfare

Lighting up the bay with long shadows

Moored boats formed an honor guard

Glistening in the morning sun

Casting infinitely long shadows 

I watched the early morning risers in the street below

Joggers running down the trail by the marina

Family pushing a stroller with their non-sleeping child

Waves of cyclists whizzing by towards Key Biscayne 

One group must have had one hundred riders

I waited and waited and waited while I drank hot green tea

The sun rose higher and the shadows got shorter

No big blue monster showed up today

It must have been his day off

Probably at home munching on garbage leftovers

That yellow jacketed man shovelling trash into his belly

I was disappointed not to see the blue monster

Even more disappointed that I did not get to feed him

It was one of those slow lazy mornings which slid towards brunch

Soon it was time to watch my football team Liverpool on TV

Real football that is AKA Soccer

We were playing our local rivals Manchester United

It was a frantic first half and we grabbed a late goal to lead 1-0

Both teams were evenly balanced in a fiercely competitive game

The second half was a totally different story

Liverpool came out on fire and scored straight away

Soon a third and fourth goal came our way

Then a fifth and sixth scored without any response from Manchester United

Scores this big are very rare in football, perhaps a few in a lifetime

We scored again just before the finish to make it 7-0

Congratulatory messages were flying into my phone

It felt good to be on top form after a very mediocre season

I pictured the big blue monster sitting in his depot

Watching the football game on a huge TV screen

Grunting and doing smokey donut burnouts in the parking lot

Shaking his horns at the monster Manchester United fans

YNWA!