What I Love About Saturdays

Saturday mornings are my sanctuary. While the rest of the city sleeps, I have the streets of Fargo to myself.

I hook up the fur child to his leash and he starts listening to my every command. He loves the car. I will refer to him as “The Moe.” He takes his usual spot as the passenger and watches everything through his window. Nothing escapes his eyes.

The streets are quiet as we leave our neighborhood. We start seeing packs of runners who are training for the upcoming Fargo Marathon. If I have to share the early morning streets, I’m happy to share with them.

The Moe and I enjoy our relaxing drive as the sun comes up. It is peaceful. The mixed CD spurts out Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” and makes me happy. My shoulders relax.

Then I see it. The Northstar Coffee hut. I take a deep breath and prepare – we haven’t seen each other in a week.

We arrive at the hut at 6:55 a.m.. It becomes clear to me that it opens at 7 a.m., so The Moe and I hang out in front of the drive thru window for a few minutes. I recognize I am bit over anxious.

It would be worth it.

The Moe sits in the passenger seat, speaking in barks and trembling. The drive thru experience is as much for him as it is for me. Northstar takes care of him, usually offering him a treat before even taking my order. He thinks he’s a human and Milkbone is his morning fix.

“Good morning, what can I get for you today?”

“I would like a 16 ounce cappuccino smoothie with sugar free caramel please.”

Those words never sounded so sweet.

The Moe continued trembling in the passenger seat, thinking he would get another treat.

I trembled in the driver’s seat. It would only be moments before I tasted the sweet bliss of my favorite caffeinated beverage.

Heaven.

The haunting sound of The Wailin’ Jenny’s “One Voice” filters through car speakers and carries us to the post office. Then we drop off the cable bill. The sun is getting brighter, the wind is sleeping in. It is Saturday, after all.

As we drive through Fargo’s cute tree-lined neighborhoods we continued to encounter runners.

How ambitious.

I raise my cappuccino smoothie and toast them. The Moe barks. That is the extent of our marathon training.

As we turned onto our home street, Miley Cyrus popped up on the mixed CD. So I put my hands up, they were playing my song (well, just one hand, I was driving).

All of this activity before 7:30 a.m.

I love Saturdays.